Google’s New AI Search: A Win for Users, But a Wake-Up Call for Websites
Naveed Babar Dar:
Move comes amid intensifying competition from AI-powered platforms such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT
Google has just made a big change to how we use the internet — and depending on who you ask, it’s either incredibly helpful or deeply worrying.
The company’s latest feature, AI Overview, uses artificial intelligence to answer your questions right at the top of the search page. No need to click through multiple links. Just ask, and boom — there’s your answer.
That might sound like a dream come true for anyone in a rush. But for the people who actually create the content that feeds those answers — bloggers, journalists, website owners — this is setting off alarm bells.
What Has Actually Changed in Google Search?
Not long ago, searching something on Google meant getting a list of websites. You’d scroll, click on a few, and read through them to find your answer.
Now? Google does most of that for you.
Let’s say you type in a question like “best cafes with WiFi near me.” Instead of showing you ten different links, Google pulls bits and pieces from across the web and gives you a neat summary at the top. It saves you time — sure. But it also skips the original sources where that info came from.
And that’s where the real issue starts.
Why Content Creators Are Worried
For websites, especially smaller ones, getting people to visit their pages is everything. More visits mean more chances to earn through ads, subscriptions, or product sales.
But if Google starts answering all your questions right on the search page, people stop clicking through. And that’s exactly what seems to be happening.
Some sites have already seen their traffic drop by as much as 25% since AI Overviews started rolling out. That’s not just a dip — that’s a hit that can seriously threaten a business, especially for small blogs, niche news outlets, or independent creators working hard behind the scenes.
The truth is, no matter how helpful AI becomes, someone still has to do the work of researching, writing, and publishing. If that work isn’t supported — or even seen — it gets harder to keep doing it.
Is Google Using Content Without Giving Credit?
This is where things get a little murky.
Some publishers are calling out Google for using their content without proper credit. They say the AI summaries are based on articles, posts, and research done by real people — but often, there’s no clear link back to those original sources.
For many, it feels like Google is benefiting from their hard work without sharing the spotlight — or the traffic.
A few media organizations have gone so far as to call it “digital theft.” That may sound dramatic, but the frustration is real: they’re creating the content, and Google is collecting the clicks.
What Does Google Say About All This?
According to Google, this isn’t about cutting out creators. The company says AI Overviews are designed to help with complex questions and give people useful answers more quickly. And for most searches, they say, regular link-based results still appear.
CEO Sundar Pichai has emphasized that the goal is to make search more helpful — not to sideline the people behind the content.
But even if that’s true, many content creators feel the impact already. Whether it’s intentional or not, the traffic drop is very real.
What’s Next for the Future of Search?
Right now, it’s a bit of a waiting game. Users clearly enjoy the speed and ease of AI-powered answers. But at what cost?
If AI keeps doing all the answering, and people stop visiting the actual websites where those answers come from, what happens to the creators? What happens to journalism, independent blogs, or the niche websites that dive deep into specific topics?
Google now faces a tough challenge: how to keep search fast and helpful without leaving behind the people who make the internet worth searching in the first place.
If they don’t get that balance right, the whole ecosystem could start to shift — and not in a way that helps the people who create, inform, and share.
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