Casey Newton

So this week at Google I.O., they laid out some changes to the way that search results will work. And there's the way that it will work in the near future, and then there's the way that it will work in the medium term.

So this week at Google I.O., they laid out some changes to the way that search results will work. And there's the way that it will work in the near future, and then there's the way that it will work in the medium term.

So this week at Google I.O., they laid out some changes to the way that search results will work. And there's the way that it will work in the near future, and then there's the way that it will work in the medium term.

The way that it's going to work in the near-term future, and in fact, a lot of people have had this feature already in preview, I've had it for several months now, is when you search for some things, Google will just show you an AI-generated summary of the results. So if you say something like, what's the best laptop I can buy right now?

The way that it's going to work in the near-term future, and in fact, a lot of people have had this feature already in preview, I've had it for several months now, is when you search for some things, Google will just show you an AI-generated summary of the results. So if you say something like, what's the best laptop I can buy right now?

The way that it's going to work in the near-term future, and in fact, a lot of people have had this feature already in preview, I've had it for several months now, is when you search for some things, Google will just show you an AI-generated summary of the results. So if you say something like, what's the best laptop I can buy right now?

Before this feature rolled out, you would see a list of links to sites like Wirecutter that had done a lot of rigorous testing of laptops. Now, with what Google is calling AI overviews, it'll say like, here are some of the best laptops of 2024 as judged by experts. And they'll sort of look at

Before this feature rolled out, you would see a list of links to sites like Wirecutter that had done a lot of rigorous testing of laptops. Now, with what Google is calling AI overviews, it'll say like, here are some of the best laptops of 2024 as judged by experts. And they'll sort of look at

Before this feature rolled out, you would see a list of links to sites like Wirecutter that had done a lot of rigorous testing of laptops. Now, with what Google is calling AI overviews, it'll say like, here are some of the best laptops of 2024 as judged by experts. And they'll sort of look at

50 different companies that have written a page like this and they will summarize it and they will sort of show you in little footnotes maybe who wrote that story. But most people, of course, are not going to click on those footnotes. They're just going to see a little summary. So why does that matter? Well, This is one of the places where publishers are still making money.

50 different companies that have written a page like this and they will summarize it and they will sort of show you in little footnotes maybe who wrote that story. But most people, of course, are not going to click on those footnotes. They're just going to see a little summary. So why does that matter? Well, This is one of the places where publishers are still making money.

50 different companies that have written a page like this and they will summarize it and they will sort of show you in little footnotes maybe who wrote that story. But most people, of course, are not going to click on those footnotes. They're just going to see a little summary. So why does that matter? Well, This is one of the places where publishers are still making money.

They're able to put affiliate links if they do these sort of wire cutter style tests of products. And if people buy something because they read that web page, then the publisher gets a little bit of a kickback. now those kickbacks are probably gonna start going away too. And so this is just, again, one more place where publishers aren't gonna see revenue.

They're able to put affiliate links if they do these sort of wire cutter style tests of products. And if people buy something because they read that web page, then the publisher gets a little bit of a kickback. now those kickbacks are probably gonna start going away too. And so this is just, again, one more place where publishers aren't gonna see revenue.

They're able to put affiliate links if they do these sort of wire cutter style tests of products. And if people buy something because they read that web page, then the publisher gets a little bit of a kickback. now those kickbacks are probably gonna start going away too. And so this is just, again, one more place where publishers aren't gonna see revenue.

But it's actually much bigger than that because the real idea here, PJ, is that whereas browsing the web used to be considered something of a pastime to older folks like you and me, now it's being sort of presented as a chore, something that you shouldn't have to do. something that you should just let Google read the web for you, show you a bunch of results, and you'll never have to leave Google.

But it's actually much bigger than that because the real idea here, PJ, is that whereas browsing the web used to be considered something of a pastime to older folks like you and me, now it's being sort of presented as a chore, something that you shouldn't have to do. something that you should just let Google read the web for you, show you a bunch of results, and you'll never have to leave Google.

But it's actually much bigger than that because the real idea here, PJ, is that whereas browsing the web used to be considered something of a pastime to older folks like you and me, now it's being sort of presented as a chore, something that you shouldn't have to do. something that you should just let Google read the web for you, show you a bunch of results, and you'll never have to leave Google.

So the reason that this is so important is this is really the first step toward you not having to visit the web anymore because Google is going to read the web for you. And like,

So the reason that this is so important is this is really the first step toward you not having to visit the web anymore because Google is going to read the web for you. And like,