Google has been altering its search formula to prioritize AI and bury actual links, a shift that is now reshaping the internet. Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch told the tech news web show TBPN in May, “Last year, I told our teams: Assume there’s no search. You have to have your businesses planned as if search is zero.” Mike Reed, the CEO of USA Today, shared on the Rebooting Show podcast that “our plan is to assume search is gone and build our business in other ways,” adding that “The traditional Google Search model is broken.” For years, Google’s search model drove internet traffic, but the status quo has changed with artificial intelligence. Three years ago, The Verge predicted “The AI takeover of Google Search starts now.” By May 2024, Google featured a Gemini-fueled “AI Overview” section atop most search result pages. In 2025, the company introduced “an all-new” AI Mode, with Sundar Pichai, CEO of parent corporation Alphabet, announcing, “It’s a total reimagining of Search.” This past May, Google made a sweeping update.