For a long time, Google has been synonymous with search, arguably because of its vastly popular search engine. However, the emergence of generative AI and tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT search are causing a paradigm shift in the category.
Shortly after Google was ruled as an illegal monopoly in search, a former engineer at the company warned that it might have bigger fish to fry with OpenAI’s temporary prototype search tool — SearchGPT— than its antitrust monopolist ruling and pending regulation.
Now, Richard Socher, CEO and founder of You.com, has seemingly shared the same sentiments. While speaking to Business Insider, the former Salesforce AI boss indicated that Google’s reign in search might soon end as users adopt and embrace AI-powered alternatives.
For context, You.com is an AI-powered search engine that may potentially dent Google’s dominance in search. It provides a wide range of services, including web searches, content creation, image generation, and code development.
The platform is powered by a large language model (LLM) that provides personalized, human-like responses to queries. Founded in 2020, the company has raised $100 million in funding.
You.com is a free service that everyone can access. However, some may opt for its premium $15 monthly subscription, which offers access to exclusive and advanced features.
This sort of insane, untouchable monopoly that Google had for 20 years, those days are over. I don’t think any company will have such a strong monopoly for such a long time anymore because users are getting faster to switch and more eager to try out things.
Richard Socher, CEO and founder of You.com
With users becoming more flexible and adaptable to new search experiences, Socher argues that companies like Google must deliver more value than default settings to maintain their lead in search.
Services like You.com are rapidly gaining traction. They cite an increase in revenue since the beginning of 2024, scaling an all-time high to 100 times the amount earned in the previous year.
A Gartner study indicated that AI-powered tools like ChatGPT search will take over 30% of online search queries by 2026, potentially denting Google’s longstanding search dominance.
This aligns with Windows Central’s parent company, Future PLC’s findings in a similar study. The survey, featuring 510 participants from the US, indicated that approximately 27% of the participants are heavily inclined to use AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT as Google’s hype slowly fades into the horizon.
Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that he’s using ChatGPT more often as it seemingly evolves into the Everything App. “I don’t do Google searches anymore,” added Altman.
Interestingly, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella claimed Google missed its opportunity with AI, subsequently giving OpenAI an uncontested two-year runway to build and train ChatGPT.
This is not to say that Google hasn’t been making efforts in the space. It recently announced its plans to ramp up its AI Overviews features to make them more appealing to users by making them available for more queries.
As you may know, the company received backlash after the feature erroneously recommended eating rocks and glue and even committing suicide. The company quickly issued a fix while blaming a data void and engineered screenshots.
Google is adding AI Mode to its search experience. This mode will embed a search-centric chatbot in its user interface to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT search. It’s worth noting that the experience is in the testing phase and limited to Google One AI Premium subscribers.
