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What about the decision to recently add
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AI mode? So, Google search is the uh as
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they say the front page of the internet.
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It's like a legendary
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minimalist thing with 10 blue links.
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Like that's when people think internet,
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they think that page. And now you're
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starting to mess with that. So, the AI
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mode, which is a separate tab, and then
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integrating AI in the results. I'm sure
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there were some battles in meetings on
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that one. Look, uh, you know, in some
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ways when mobile came, you know, people
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wanted answers to more questions. So,
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we've kind of constantly evolving it.
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But you're right this moment you know
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that evolution because the underlying
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technology is becoming much more
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capable you know you can have AI give a
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lot of context you know but one of our
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important design goals though is when
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you come to Google search you're going
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to get a lot of context but you're going
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to go and find a lot of things out on
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the web so that will be true in AI mode
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in AI overviews and so on but I think to
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our earlier conversation We are still
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giving you access to links but think of
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the AI as a layer which is giving you
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context summary maybe in AI mode you can
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have a dialogue with it back and forth
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Mhm. on your journey right and but
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through it all you're kind of learning
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what's out there in the world. So those
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core principles don't change but I think
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AI mode allows us to push the we have
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our best models there right uh models
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which are using search as a deep
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tool really for every query you're
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asking kind of fanning out doing
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multiple searches like kind of
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assembling that knowledge in a way so
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you can go and consume what you want to
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right and and and that's how we think
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about it I got a chance to listen to a
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bunch of Elizabeth Liz Reed yeah
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describe this two things stood out to me
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that you mentioned. One thing is what
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you were talking about is the query fan
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out which I didn't even think about
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before
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uh is the the powerful aspect of
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integrating a bunch of stuff on the web
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for you in one place. So yes, it
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provides that context so that you can
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decide which page to then go on to. The
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other really really big thing speaks to
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the
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earlier in terms of productivity
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multiplier that we're talking about that
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she mentioned was um language. So one of
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the things you don't quite understand is
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it through AI mode you make for
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non-English speakers you make sort of
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let's say English language websites
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accessible by in the reasoning process
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as you try to figure out what you're
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looking for. Of course, once you show up
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to a page, you can use a basic
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translate. Yeah. But that process of
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figuring it out, if you empathize with a
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large part of the world that doesn't
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speak English, their like web uh is much
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smaller in that original language. And
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so it unlocks again unlocks that huge
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cognitive capacity there that we don't,
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you know, you take for granted here with
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all the bloggers and the journalists
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writing about AI mode. you forget that
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this now unlocks
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um because Gemini is really good at
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translation. No, it is I mean the
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multimodality, the translation uh it
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ability to reason, we are dramatically
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improving tool use uh like I putting
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that power in the flow of search. I I
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think look I'm I'm super excited with AI
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overviews. We've we've seen the product
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has gotten much better. we know we
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measure it using all kinds of user
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metrics. It's obviously driven strong
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growth of the product uh and you know
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we've been testing AI mode. You know
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it's now in the hands of millions of
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people and the early metrics are very
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encouraging. So look I I I'm excited
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about this next chapter chapter of
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search for people who are not thinking
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through or aware of this. So there's the
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10 blue links with the AI overview on
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top that provides a nice summarization.
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You can expand it and you have sources
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and links now. Yep. Embedded. Yeah, I
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believe at least Liz said so. I actually
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didn't notice it, but there's ads in the
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AI overview
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also. I don't think there's ads in AI
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mode. Uh when ads in AI mode, some when
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do you think I mean it's okay. We should
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say that in the '9s, I remember the
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animated
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gifts, banner gifts that take you to
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some shady websites that have nothing to
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do with anything. AdSense revolutionized
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advertisement. It's one of the greatest
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inventions
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um in in recent history because it
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allows us for
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free to have access to all these kinds
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of services. So ads fuel a lot of really
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powerful
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services and at its best it's showing
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you relevant ads but also very
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importantly in a way that's not super
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annoying. Mhm. Right. In a classy way.
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So
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uh when do you think it's possible to
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add ads into AI mode and what does that
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look like from a classy non-anoying
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perspective? Two things. early part of
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AI mode uh will obviously focus more on
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the organic experience to make sure we
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are getting it right. I think the
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fundamental value of ads are it enables
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access to deploy the services to
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billions of people. The second is ads
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are the reason we've always taken ads
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seriously is we view ads as commercial
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information but it's still information
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and so we bring the same quality metrics
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to it. I think with AI mode to our
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earlier conversation about I think AI
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itself will help us over time figure out
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you know the best way to do it. I I
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think given we are giving context around
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everything we I think it'll give us more
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opportunities to also explain okay
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here's some commercial information like
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today as a podcaster you do it at
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certain spots and you probably figure
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out what's best in your podcast.
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Um I I think so there are aspects of
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that but I think you know I think the
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underlying need of people value
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commercial information businesses are
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trying to connect to users all that
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doesn't change in a AI moment but look
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we will rethink it you've seen us in
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YouTube now do a mixture of
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subscription and ads like
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obviously you know we we are now
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introducing subscription offerings uh
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across everything and so as part of that
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we can optimi the optimization point
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will end up being a different place as
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well. Do you see a trajectory in the
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possible future where AI mode completely
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replaces the 10 blue links plus AI
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overview? Our current plan is AI mode is
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going to be there as a separate tab for
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people who really want to experience
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that but it's not yet at the level where
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our main search page is but as features
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work we'll keep migrating it to the main
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page and so you can view it as a
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continuum AI mode will offer you the
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bleeding edge
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experience but it'll things that work
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will keep
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overflowing to AI overviews in the main
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main experience and the idea that AI
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mode will still take you to the web to
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the human created web. Yes, that's going
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to be a core design principle for us. So
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really if users decide right they drive
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this. Yeah, it's just exciting a little
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bit scary that it might change the
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internet is you Google has been
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dominating with a very specific look and
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idea of what it means to have the
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internet and to as you move to AI
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mode. I mean I it's just a different
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experience. Um I think Liz was talking
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about I think you've mentioned that you
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ask more
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questions, you ask longer questions,
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dramatically different types of
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questions. Yeah. Like it actually fuels
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curiosity. Like I think it's for me I've
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been asking just a much larger number of
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questions of this blackbox machine,
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let's say, whatever it is. and and with
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AI overview, it's interesting like I
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because I still value the
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human I still ultimately want to end up
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on the human created
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web but I like you said the context
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really helps it helps us deliver higher
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quality referrals right you know where
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people are like they have much higher
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likelihood of finding what they're
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looking for they're exploring they're
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curious their intent is getting
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satisfied more so all that's what all
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our metrics
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It makes the humans that create the web
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nervous, the journalists are getting
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nervous. They've already been nervous.
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Like we mentioned, CNN is nervous
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because of podcasts. Um, it makes people
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nervous. Look, I I I think news and
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journalism will play an important role,
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you know, in the future. Uh, we're
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pretty committed to it, right? And uh so
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I think making sure that ecosystem in
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fact I think we'll be able to
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differentiate ourselves as a company
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over time because of our commitment
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there. So it's it's it's something I
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think you know I definitely value a lot
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and and as we are designing we'll
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continue prioritizing approaches. I'm
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sure for the people who want they can
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have a fine-tuned AI model that's
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clickbait hit pieces uh that will
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replace current journalism. Uh that's a
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shot of journalism, forgive me. Uh but I
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I find that if you're looking for really
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strong criticism of things that Gemini
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is very good at providing that. Oh,
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absolutely. It's better than anything
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the for now I mean people are concerned
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that there would be bias that's
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introduced that as the AI systems become
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more and more powerful. There's
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incentive from sponsors
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uh to roll in and try to control the
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output of the AI models. uh but for now
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the objective criticism that's provided
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is way better than journalism. Of course
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the argument is the journalists are
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still valuable but then I don't know the
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crowd search journalism that we get on
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the open internet is also very very
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powerful. I feel like they're all super
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important things. I think it's good that
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you get a lot of crowdsourced
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information coming
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in, but I feel like there is real value
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for high quality journalism, right? And
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and I think these are all complimentary.
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I think like I view it as I find myself
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constantly seeking out also like try to
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find objective reporting on on things
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too. uh and and sometimes you get more
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context from the crowdfunded sources you
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read online, but I think both end up
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playing a super important role.