Google has long been the dominant player in the search market, but the tech giant is finally seeing some competition to its dominant revenue stream, with generative AI coming into the picture. As it turns out, Google is now planning to display ads within conversations with AI chatbots in a bid to maintain its position in the digital advertising space, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Reportedly, Google’s AdSense for Search network, which is responsible for showing ads within search results on websites, has been expanded to include conversations with chatbots run by AI startups. The move comes after the company conducted tests last year and this year with a handful of AI search app startups, such as iAsk and Liner.
Google is reportedly running these experiments with AI startups in order to test the waters with advertising in the relatively new world of AI.
Commenting on the report, a Google spokesperson told Bloomberg, “AdSense for Search is available for websites that want to show relevant ads in their conversational AI experiences.”
Threats to Google’s search business:
Notably, Google’s search business has been under threat since ChatGPT’s first public debut in late 2022, amid fears that users would turn to the chatbot to find answers to their questions. Much has changed since then, with Google developing its own AI chatbot, generally considered to be on par with OpenAI’s offering, while also adding AI overviews to search, allowing users to get quick answers to questions without opening websites.
However, the tech giant is now facing newer challenges, including from the likes of Aravind Srinivas-led Perplexity AI, which uses various AI models, including OpenAI’s and China’s DeepSeek, to provide quick results to users’ queries.
Meanwhile, Google is also facing scrutiny at home, with a US federal judge finding that the company violated antitrust laws by monopolising the open web digital advertising market. The remedy hearing for this case is currently underway and could have a major impact on the development of Google Search for years to come.