A senior Google Search leader pushed back Thursday against concerns that AI-driven search results will undermine web publishers or threaten Google’s advertising revenue, calling the shift “an expansionary moment” for the internet rather than a contraction.

Speaking at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York, Robby Stein, Google’s vice president of product for Search, addressed worries that AI features — which increasingly provide direct answers — could reduce referrals to external sites. Stein said Google continues to send “billions and billions and billions” of clicks to the open web each day, with outbound traffic remaining largely stable.

He argued that new search behaviors, from using smartphone cameras to submitting longer and more complex queries, are opening fresh opportunities. “We think over time that’s expansionary. The pie is growing very, very fast,” he said.

A SHIFT COMPARED TO THE MOBILE ERA

Stein also tried to ease investor concerns that conversational AI might disrupt Google’s powerful ads business. He likened today’s transition to the industry’s shift from desktop to mobile, saying advertising will adapt again as user behavior evolves.

Ads inside AI chat experiences can be “incredibly helpful,” Stein noted, offering the example of someone seeking solutions for a raccoon problem who could be shown relevant products.

His comments came amid reports that rival OpenAI has declared a “code red” to accelerate improvements to ChatGPT as Google intensifies competition with new multimodal models, diversified search experiences and viral tools such as its Nano Banana image generator. Alphabet shares have climbed nearly 67% this year, driven in part by strong cloud revenue.

PUBLISHERS’ FEARS GROW AS GOOGLE DEFENDS ITS APPROACH

Stein’s message counters a rising narrative from publishers who warn that AI-generated answers will slash traffic and revenue. A recent Pew Research study found that users were less likely to click through to sources when presented with AI summaries — a data point that has fueled industry alarm.

Stein said Google remains committed to supporting the broader ecosystem. “Google cares about the web more than anyone,” he said, describing AI as a “powerful discovery engine” designed to surface and link back to original sources.

He also downplayed the impact of a recent U.S. antitrust ruling that allows Google to maintain its Chrome browser. Innovation, he said, is being driven by advances in underlying models, not regulatory outcomes.

Despite a rough start to its generative AI rollout in 2023, Google is now pushing ahead with rapid product iterations as the company seeks to redefine search while reassuring both publishers and investors that its foundational businesses remain intact.

Souce