Navigating the ad-fueled, flawed future of search

The ritual was once as reflexive as breathing. Have a question? "Just Google it." For two decades, this was the universal starting point for curiosity and connection. But the age of the simple search query is giving way to the era of the AI conversation.

A few years ago, if you wanted to know the best restaurants in your neighbourhood, you would fire up Google and sift through ten blue links, maybe click on a few review sites, and piece together your decision. Today, you might just ask ChatGPT: "Suggest three romantic dinner spots within 10 miles of Andheri, considering my dietary restrictions and budget of Rs. 3000 for two." The AI doesn't just give you a list; it curates a personalised experience.

This shift has brought about more than just a new way to search; it's rewiring how we discover, consume, and interact with information online. As AI chatbots mature from experimental tools to everyday companions, they are not just changing user behaviour; they are dismantling the very foundation of the digital economy that publishers, marketers, and content creators have built their livelihoods on.

The numbers tell a story of this transformation. While traditional search engines are stopping traffic to publishers, AI platforms are doubling their referral rates. The data emerging from 2025 paints a picture of this shift. 

ChatGPT referral traffic to publishers' sites has nearly doubled this year, jumping from 123.2 million visits in January to 243.8 million by April, with a 98% increase. Meanwhile, 83% of OpenAI's referral traffic now flows to news and media sites, up from just 64% at the year's start.

But here's where the story gets complicated. This growth in AI referrals isn't compensating for the losses elsewhere. Google's AI Overviews feature, launched in May 2024, has changed how users interact with search results. The proportion of news searches resulting in zero clicks to actual websites has grown from 56% to nearly 69% in just one year. Publishers are watching their organic traffic drop from over 2.3 billion visits at its peak in mid-2024 to under 1.7 billion.

According to a report by Digiday, referrals from AI are up more than 1000% year over year. Some publishers are faring better than others in this new landscape. Reuters has reportedly seen its ChatGPT referral traffic climb 8.9% year-over-year, while Business Insider is up 6.5%. Interestingly, The New York Times, which is actively suing OpenAI for allegedly scraping its content without permission, has seen only a modest 3.1% increase in ChatGPT referrals.

Reports by Similarweb also suggest that BBC's referral traffic from ChatGPT surged 188.9% since January, driving about 118,000 visits, while Fox News saw a 166.3% increase with roughly 113,000 visits. Topics like stocks, finance, and sports currently dominate ChatGPT's news-related queries, but there’s a shift towards politics, economy, and weather.

The death of "Just Google It"

The phrase "Just Google it" once defined an entire generation's relationship with information. Today, user intent is reshaping search and “killing” the phrase in the process.

The other day, I found myself thinking about building my stamina for an upcoming hiking trip. In the past, I would have Googled "how to build endurance" and spent 20 minutes clicking through fitness blogs, comparing advice, and trying to piece together a plan. Instead, I opened ChatGPT and asked it to create a weekly fitness plan tailored to my lifestyle, available equipment, and specific goals. Within minutes, I had a personalised program complete with progressions, rest days, and alternative exercises.

We are moving from information-seeking to solution-seeking behaviour. Traditional search was about finding resources; AI search is about getting answers. When an AI chatbot can integrate information from multiple sources and present a personalised response within your specific context, why would you choose to navigate the maze of traditional search results?

The data supports this behavioural shift. A survey reveals that about half of Indian internet users are already using AI platforms regularly, with 28% using ChatGPT, 9% using Perplexity, 6% using Co-Pilot via Bing, and 3% using Gemini. 

This evolution from search to discovery is forcing a complete reimagining of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) into what experts are calling Gen AI-driven Optimisation (GEO). In my previous article, understanding how SEO is shifting in the age of AI, Priti Murthy, President of GroupM Nexus, explained, "Performance now hinges on relevance, personalisation, and intent.”

With Gen AI delivering real-time content, marketers need to create authentic, high-value content that aligns with AI-driven discovery and conversational search.

This shift means the traditional SEO playbook, built around keywords, backlinks, and ranking positions, is becoming obsolete.

Instead, brands must focus on what Neha Bawa, Director of Brand Marketing at Techmagnate, called "entity-based SEO, topic clusters, and knowledge graph optimisation," according to my report. The new rules prioritise conversational and natural language optimisation, with keyword-to-intent mapping being critical given that AI prioritises understanding the why behind searches.

While AI platforms are changing how we find and consume information, they are also grappling with significant challenges that threaten to undermine user trust and adoption.

The advertising invasion: Privacy, profits, and the future of AI search

As AI chatbots mature from experimental curiosities to essential digital tools, they face the same existential question that has shaped the internet for decades: how do you monetise massive user engagement without destroying the user experience that created that engagement in the first place?

The answer, predictably, is advertising. But the implications could be profound.

Perplexity AI has already begun testing the waters, announcing plans to share advertising revenue with news publishers when its chatbot surfaces their content. The platform has secured $100 million in funding and launched ‘Comet’, a web browser featuring AI-powered search tools, to take on the dominance of Google Chrome.

But advertising in AI chatbots presents challenges that traditional search engines never faced. When Google shows you ten blue links alongside some ads, the distinction is clear. When an AI chatbot weaves sponsored content into a conversational response that feels personalised and authoritative, the lines blur.

Consider the current problems AI platforms already face: hallucinations, factual errors, and inconsistent responses. Google's AI Overviews have been unreliable since its launch, with the search giant continuously tweaking the system to reduce mistakes. A recent analysis found that 60% of the time, pages ranking in Google's top 10 also appear in AI Overviews, while 40% of the time, AI Overviews feature content that doesn't rank in the top 10 of organic search, highlighting the volatility and unpredictability of AI-generated results.

Now imagine layering advertising on top of these already-shaky foundations. Will sponsored content receive algorithmic preference? How will users distinguish between genuine AI recommendations and paid placements? The potential for manipulation and misinformation multiplies.

The privacy implications are equally concerning. In 2023, a user discovered that ChatGPT was automatically creating new conversations based on their Google search history. In their post, they shared, "I discovered that ChatGPT holds my Google search history and starts a chat with that Google search. For example, I searched on Google kubernetes certifications, and after that search I login chatgpt and saw that chat bubble that includes exactly my google search 'kubernetes certifications.'"

While they said that the AI chatbot auto-deletes after 5-10 minutes, the incident highlights how extensively AI platforms monitor and integrate user behaviour across different services. If these platforms begin serving targeted advertisements based on such data collection, will they follow the same path as streaming services by offering a "premium" tier that promises privacy in exchange for higher subscription fees?

AI chatbots already have pricing tiers. ChatGPT Plus costs $20 monthly, while ChatGPT Pro gives more access for $200/month. Perplexity has joined in, too, revealing its Perplexity Max plan with a monthly price tag of $200. Google charges $19.99 for Gemini AI Pro, and Google AI Ultra offers expanded access for $249.99/month. 

Meta has made its intentions clear, with a goal to have a fully AI-automated ad creation and delivery system across its platforms by the end of 2026. OpenAI is reportedly building out an advertising team, with a formal ad product for ChatGPT widely expected by 2026.

As these platforms introduce advertising, we may see a bifurcation of the user experience: free users subjected to increasingly intrusive ad integration, while paying subscribers enjoy cleaner, more private interactions.

This shift toward monetisation comes at a time when AI chatbots are handling increasingly sensitive queries. Users are sharing personal financial information, health concerns, relationship problems, and career anxieties with these platforms. The introduction of advertising algorithms that can analyse and monetise such intimate conversations gives these AI platforms a chance to invade privacy at an unprecedented scale.

Moreover, the advertising ecosystem that emerges around AI chatbots will likely reshape entire industries. Publishers are already struggling with massive traffic declines as AI platforms provide direct answers instead of driving users to original sources. If AI platforms become primary advertising destinations, publishers face a double threat: losing both audience and ad revenue to the same platforms that are mining their content.

As AI platforms prepare to introduce advertising while still grappling with fundamental issues of accuracy, transparency, and privacy, users are blissfully unaware that they are serving as experimentation playgrounds for AI platforms.

The question is whether the AI-powered future of search will serve users' interests or benefit the platforms that control access to information. As we stand on the brink of this new era, the end of "Googling it" is here, but the future of search could be commercially driven and intrusive in ways we are only just beginning to understand.