If you believe the hype, it won’t be long until AI comes for all of our jobs, no matter the industry. That said, writers seem to be one of the first people in the crosshairs – and Google says that’s absolutely true.

In fact, their vision for AI-integrated search involves basically cutting digital publishers off at the knees.

Their new AI-powered interface, which they call “Search Generative Experience” or SGE, features a top-of-the-page summarization feature.

Whatever you search, you receive this large language model (LLM)-generated summary of the answer before you get to any links to other pages.

David Pierce of The Verge explains more:

“Google’s normal search results load almost immediately. Above them, a rectangular orange section pulses and glows and shows the phrase ‘Generative AI is experimental.’ A few seconds later, the glowing is replaced by an AI-generated summary: a few paragraphs detailing how good sourdough tastes, the upsides of its prebiotic abilities, and more. To the right, there are three links to sites with information that ‘corroborates’ what’s in the summary.”

This is a big deal because Google hosts around 91% of all search traffic, and if they’re putting their own “summary” up at the top, it no longer matters as much whether or not you’re the top offered link.

And, according to The Verge’s James Vincent, that means digital publishers will struggle even more to monetize their work.

“Google has unveiled its vision for how it will incorporate AI into search. The quick answer: it’s going to gobble up the open web and then summarize/rewrite/regurgitate it (pick the adjective that reflects your level of disquiet) in a shiny Google UI.”

Google has unveiled its vision for how it will incorporate AI into search. The quick answer: it's going to gobble up the open web and then summarize/rewrite/regurgitate it (pick the adjective that reflects your level of disquiet) in a shiny google UIhttps://t.co/R4BZoSZajg pic.twitter.com/8khHgYVTPv

— James Vincent (@jjvincent) May 10, 2023

Everyone knows people always pick from the top two or three results, never scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page.

There’s no word on whether or not Google plans to compensate the publishers whose work they’re compiling the summary from, but I think we can all guess the answer.

“Were introducing this new generative AI experience as an experiment in Search Labs to help us iterate and improve, while incorporating feedback from users and other stakeholders. As we experiment…we’ll continue to prioritize approaches that will allow us to send valuable traffic to a wide range of creators and support a healthy, open web.”

Aka, they have no plans currently to compensate publishers.

Publishers, therefore, like RPG Site owner Alex Donaldson, can see the writing on the wall.

“If this actually works and is implemented in a firm way, this is literally the end of the business model for vast swathes of digital media lol.”

if this actually works and is implemented in a firm way, this is literally the end of the business model for vast swathes of digital media lol https://t.co/RJHRCCNoTF

— Alex Donaldson (@APZonerunner) May 10, 2023

Yes, lol.

There’s still some bugs that need to be worked out, namely the fact that AI spits out incorrect information all the time.

You can’t be sure you’re getting the truth without journalistic integrity, and you’re never going to get that from a bot.