How AI Is Changing Internet Search: Expert Analysis

Over a decade has passed since IBM’s Bridget van Kralingen declared that: “The last best experience that anyone has anywhere becomes the minimum expectation for the experience they want everywhere.”

Fast-forward to the present day, and my son proudly tells me that Googling for answers reveals a page of irrelevant results. By contrast, he gets the information he needs immediately when he asks ChatGPT or Claude 3.5, which also gives him the sources for the results. After my knee-jerk reaction and lectures about hallucinations, I was forced to admit that maybe he had a point.

It’s impossible to ignore that generative AI is changing how people look for information online. Internet users are now asking questions rather than searching for keywords that will take them to a website that may or may not have what they want.

What does this mean for the future of search, the companies that provide the results, and the businesses that have paid thousands to be on page one of a search engine results page (SERP) that people could stop using?

At Techopedia, we turned to the tech community rather than AI to find our answers.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. From Keywords to Questions
3. Rethinking SEO in the Age of Generative AI
4. Ensuring the Accuracy of AI in an Era of Easy Answers
5. From Simple Queries to Complex Conversations
6. The Bottom Line
7. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. From Keywords to Questions
3. Rethinking SEO in the Age of Generative AI
Show Full Guide
4. Ensuring the Accuracy of AI in an Era of Easy Answers
5. From Simple Queries to Complex Conversations
6. The Bottom Line
7. References

From Keywords to Questions

In 2018, Google peaked as the dominant search engine, enjoying 91% of search traffic. But by 2024, we see a steady decline to 81%. AI search engines such as Perplexity are taking advantage of the shift in search methods.

My gut feeling about the future of search was echoed by Olga Beregovaya, Vice President of AI at Smartling, who told me.

“We can look at GenAI-based search as a natural evolution of Web 3.0, or “semantic web,” where the search results retrieval is augmented by machines understanding the meaning of the web content but taken to an entirely new level.”

Uzi Dvir, CIO of WalkMe (NASDAQ: WKME), is also passionate about the transformative impact of GenAI on search. He told Techopedia:

“You no longer have to do the work of combing through stacks of results. What’s not as obvious is how AI-powered search will become integrated into employee workflows as businesses adopt powerful GenAI tools that account for a company’s entire data context.

“Imagine not even needing to prompt AI because it’s built to understand work needs and get people what they want faster, easier, and in a more digestible format. A transformed future of search is closely connected to future ways we work — and dramatic productivity gains.”

Rethinking SEO in the Age of Generative AI

As users slowly begin changing their search methods, it seems inevitable that artificial intelligence will transform how we find information. But what does this mean for the future of the entire search ecosystem?

Beregovaya of Smartling added: “It is also exciting to reinvent the concept of SEO in the light of GenAI-based search applications: will SEO be as relevant in the GenAI-driven search space?

“Probably not, as the importance of keyword density gives way to content richness and relevance.”

Michael Raduga, CEO of REMspace, hit the headlines last year after performing neurosurgery on himself to control his dreams. But more recently, he told me how Generative AI has already begun transforming search in unexpected ways.

“First, life for ordinary internet users has become simpler. Gone are the days of navigating through multiple websites to find information. Now, you can enter a query and receive a detailed result on the same page.

“Second, search engines using Gen AI have started to impact websites that previously relied on them. Soon, many of these sites may lose traffic as search engines provide instant results. This shift marks the end of the Internet as we know it, now heavily controlled by powerful corporations.”

Ensuring the Accuracy of AI in an Era of Easy Answers

There are still many hurdles to overcome to make GenAI a fully suitable augmentation of the search process. Beregovaya warned that we have all heard about the infamous cases of Google’s AI-powered search feature making recommendations to add glue to pizza or rocks to one’s diet for health benefits.

“GenAI models are still prone to hallucinations and equally designed to deliver responses with confidence; the overall prioritization of mitigating hallucinations in the R&D efforts across the globe is extremely relevant for search applications, as people rely on search results for their decision-making, and sometimes, these are critical decisions.”

It takes on another dimension when we consider cross-lingual search powered by GenAI instead of bilingual or multilingual machine translation models.

GenAI search engines fetch data from the entire model knowledge space, and we receive personalized results based on the sociolinguistic properties of the search request. Again, it can go both ways, as the results can be rich in information but need more factual accuracy for specific languages, cultures, and locations.

From Simple Queries to Complex Conversations

The CEO of REMspace is optimistic and believes that Generative AI’s impact on search is undeniable, presenting benefits and challenges. But warns that we need to tackle the problem of misinformation.

Raduga said:

“False information could become more prevalent. People may unquestioningly trust the AI-generated search results, assuming AI is infallible. This new reliance on AI can lead to a form of thought control.”

What does the future of search look like, and where do we go from here? Uzi Dvir, CIO of WalkMe, believes the next phase of search methods will be engaging with an AI agent designed to enhance your inquiry process. This advanced AI can directly answer your queries and suggest follow-up questions and potential next steps.

He said:

“By analyzing the context of your questions and the information retrieved, the AI helps guide your research more efficiently, ensuring you explore all relevant avenues. This interactive approach allows for a more dynamic and thorough investigation, as the AI continually refines and adapts its responses based on the evolving conversation.”

The Bottom Line

Five years from now, many will look back at what might seem primitive ways we searched for information. Following a trail of virtual breadcrumbs, we carefully avoid sponsored posts and end up at a website that still needs to deliver the promised information.

In the future, AI will answer our questions rather than have to search for keywords. But what does this mean for the entire search ecosystem if we use our voice or type a question when seeking these answers? And what impact will an overreliance on AI have on our critical decision-making?

As we explore the future of search and transition from keywords to asking questions, it’s clear that we face many challenges that need addressing. However, one thing is sure: AI is already carving its corner and changing how we search for information online.