Google Takes Aim at AI Firms Challenging Its Search Dominance

Google is overhauling its iconic search engine to compete more directly with a wave of artificial-intelligence chatbots that threaten its core business.

- Katherine Blunt

The company has started rolling out on its search page what it calls "AI Mode," which answers search queries in a chatbot-style conversation without the standard list of blue links.

The option, which Google announced at its developers' conference Tuesday, is being added as a tab within search for users in the U.S.

The change marks Google's most ambitious effort to date to confront the AI upstarts that threaten its flagship search product and largest source of revenue.

"It's a total reimagining of search with more advanced reasoning," said Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google parent Alphabet. "We are now entering a new phase of the AI platform shift where decades of research are now becoming reality."

Many major tech companies are grappling with the prospect that generative artificial intelligence could disrupt their longstanding dominance, and face pressure from Wall Street to embrace AI.

AI chatbots are fundamentally changing the way users search for information. In response to queries, OpenAI's ChatGPT and its competitors aggregate information in conversational responses. Users don't click on multiple links as often as they might while searching Google.