Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that Google’s AI search box, app building tools, and agent products will eventually converge.
Photosi also dismissed publisher fears that Google would stop sending traffic to the web in an interview with Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge.
- “All in all, we are very committed to meeting the expectations of users and linking them to what’s on the web,” Photosi said.
However, Photosi’s comments showed why those fears are growing: Google is moving Search to chat, agents, and AI tools that can answer questions or complete user tasks without requiring a click.
Why do we care. Many people are concerned that AI Mode will be the default Search experience in I/O. It didn’t happen, and many people were relieved. AI mode is still not the default Search experience, but Photosi has described a future where Search, Gemini, and agents converge into a single AI layer to find information, create content, and complete tasks.
Agents are the future. AI agents are the next big change for Search and the web, Photosi said:
- “I look at agents, and that’s the next evolution of the web. I think it’s going to change the web profoundly.”
Google builds agent tools across Search, Gemini, Spark, and Antigravity. Photosi said that those products should ultimately be integrated with users. Photosi previously said he sees Google Search turning into an ‘agent manager’.
One product. Asked if Google’s AI search box, app building tools and agent products should be a single product, Photosi said: “It will be.”
Photosi said agents should work in the background while users plan trips, create items or complete tasks. Photosi said Google is still building the pieces needed for that transition.
- “We’re putting in a lot of the first things we need for agents to work in the end, and more importantly, for AI to work,” he said.
Celebrate deeply. Google’s Liz Reid: Search and Gemini may converge, or diverge further
Google rejects Google Zero. Patel asked Photosi about Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch’s recent comments that the publisher was planning for search traffic to drop to zero.
- “That’s Google Zero,” Patel said. “Condé Nast says, ‘We think search is going to zero.’ How can you answer that?”
The information market has changed significantly beyond Google, says Photosi:
- “The information ecosystem is much broader than Google, by far. We see it in the data, you see it everywhere,” Photosi said.
Photosi said publishers have spent years adjusting to new formats, platforms, and user habits.
- It’s incredibly powerful, so it makes sense to me for every publisher to adapt to this new world.”
Google says one click goes. Patel pressed Photosi that publishers should plan for a future where auto searches are zero, citing Lynch’s comment that his teams were told to “imagine no searches.”
Photosi refused to tell publishers how to run their businesses.
- “I am not in a position to tell a publisher like him that he should think about his business or his program,” said Photosi. “If they create quality content and people love it, I expect us to show that in our products. That’s what I can offer them.”
He also said that Search is already filtering some visits.
- “As technology improves, low clicks are filtered out,” he said. “That’s the evolution we’re seeing. We’re seeing it in our metrics. Bounce clicks are going down.”
Google points to subscriptions. Subscriptions are one way Google is adapting to publisher business models, Photosi said.
- “One of the smaller features that we’ve done, but the most important one I think is, if you’re subscribed to something, we show that as your preferred resource as a user.”
- “We’re getting used to the fact that publishers are increasingly turning to subscription offers.”
The interview didn’t address why many publishers were moving more toward subscriptions: Because they couldn’t rely on search traffic as much as they used to.
The search should have gone faster. Photosi said Google redesigned Search because the product needs to move faster in the AI era.
- “The search had to move quickly, and the search was divided among many leaders,” he said.
Google has placed Search under Elizabeth Reid, with Nick Fox leading the broader area. Josh Woodward also helped lead the Labs and later the Gemini mission. The goal was to get Google “to plan well at this time when we need to move quickly as a company, which means we need to make decisions quickly,” Photosi said.
An interview. Sundar Photos on AI, the future of search, and what’s happening on the web
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