Apple could also be making ready to dismantle one of the worthwhile preparations in tech historical past: its $20 billion-a-year deal to make Google the default search engine in Safari.
That’s the takeaway from bombshell testimony by Apple govt Eddy Cue through the Division of Justice’s antitrust trial in opposition to Google. Cue revealed that Apple is actively exploring partnerships with AI-powered search instruments like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Anthropic. And whereas Google isn’t going wherever simply but, Cue made one factor very clear:
The age of conventional search is ending.
On Episode 147 of The Artificial Intelligence Show, Advertising and marketing AI Institute founder and CEO Paul Roetzer defined why this second could also be way more than only a PR drawback for Google. It’s the early sign of a tectonic shift in how all of us discover data—and who earnings from it.
When a Single Knowledge Level Rocks the Market
Cue’s testimony talked about that, for the primary time ever, Safari search site visitors had declined—a dip he attributes to customers turning to AI as a substitute. It’s only one knowledge level. However it was sufficient to ship Alphabet shares tumbling by more than 7%.
Why such a dramatic response? As a result of Google’s dominance—and advert income—is determined by being the default vacation spot for search. And if Apple’s 2 billion units start to route even a fraction of that site visitors to AI search engines like google and yahoo, all the enterprise mannequin behind on-line search begins to wobble.
The Realization About Search That Adjustments The whole lot
Roetzer had his personal aha second not too long ago that appears to validate these bigger developments. Whereas researching AI’s influence on jobs utilizing ChatGPT’s deep analysis capabilities, he watched in actual time because the system pulled, vetted, and synthesized knowledge from sources he by no means would’ve discovered by way of conventional search.
In two minutes, AI performed a search higher, quicker, and extra completely than he might.
“For the primary time, I spotted that I do not assume conventional search exists within the close to future,” he says. “I do not know why I’d ever go to a standard search engine now. I believe all search sooner or later simply occurs by means of your assistant of selection.”
Whether or not that’s ChatGPT, Gemini, or one other AI software, the outdated search expertise—typing key phrases right into a field and sifting by means of 10 blue hyperlinks—is quickly changing into out of date.
A Shift in Shopper Conduct Is Already Underway
If you happen to assume this appears like a fringe prediction, assume once more. On the present, I spoke with Roetzer about how I could not keep in mind the final time I used Google for something past checking restaurant hours. For some individuals, even for complicated analysis or native vendor searches, AI assistants are more and more the primary cease.
And Apple’s curiosity in bringing a number of AI suppliers into Safari—OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic, and even Elon Musk’s xAI—solely accelerates that shift. Cue referred to as these providers viable alternate options to Google for the primary time, admitting that previous to AI, “not one of the others had been legitimate selections.”
Now, not solely are they legitimate, however they’re enhancing quick.
What This Means for Google—and Everybody Else
The implications go far past market share. Google’s cash-cow search advert enterprise is constructed on eyeballs viewing hyperlinks and clicking advertisements. But when future customers depend on AI brokers that ship direct solutions, with out hyperlinks or advertisements, that mannequin might collapse.
Roetzer paints a future the place AI not solely finds data however evaluates its personal sources, ranks their high quality, and generates concise, correct briefings. No click-through required. No advertisements wanted.
It’s what customers have all the time wished: the perfect reply, instantly, with no friction.
That creates challenges for corporations constructed on search engine marketing, content material advertising, and internet site visitors. If AI handles discovery, the trail to visibility and conversions adjustments utterly.
A Second Larger Than Most Notice
Whether or not or not Google weathers this disruption is determined by the way it integrates AI into merchandise like Gemini and Google Workspace. However Roetzer believes the broader shift is already occurring:
“I simply do not know that going to Google.com is a factor the subsequent era’s going to ever do,” he says.
This isn’t only a expertise story—it’s about habits change. As extra individuals uncover that AI is healthier and quicker at discovering what they want, expectations round data, accuracy, and comfort will likely be completely altered.
And as Roetzer summed up on the present, that is occurring quick and we should be planning for it. As a result of a world with out conventional search could also be nearer than we predict.
