Google Is Burning the Internet to Save Itself — And AI Is the Match

The post Google Is Burning the Internet to Save Itself — And AI Is the Match appeared first on Android Headlines.

Apr 26, 2025 - 00:02

For nearly three decades, Google has been the front door to the internet. It helped us navigate a chaotic sea of information, connecting billions of people to billions of pages—some useful, some dubious, many essential. In the process, Google didn’t just organize the world’s information; it reordered the internet around itself.

Now, it’s unmaking it.

The threat isn’t from regulators or rival search engines—it’s from Google’s own pivot to artificial intelligence. In its rush to stave off an AI-fueled exodus to chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, Google has begun cannibalizing the very ecosystem it once sustained. The company says it’s enhancing search. In reality, it’s rewriting its business model in a way that threatens to dismantle the open web as we know it.

Why is Google so terrified of losing its search dominance?

Simply put, Google is a monopolist. Google does not want to have to compete with other companies, especially for something that is so core to its business – search. In fact, Google just got hit with another antitrust case decision, where US District Judge Amit Mehta wrote, “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”

Google is currently in the midst of multiple antitrust trials, where the US Department of Justice has claimed that Google is a monopoly. And so far the US Government is undefeated in accusing Google of being a monopoly in multiple businesses that Google has.

It also came to light, during this trial, that Google was paying billions to Apple. This made Google the default search engine on the iPhone. In 2022, Google paid Apple $22 billion to remain as the default search engine on the iPhone and other Apple products, court records showed. Google also profits shares with Apple, from its search engine. So every search you make in Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac makes both Google and Apple money. This deal also locked out other competitors like Bing and DuckDuckGo, who couldn’t even afford to pay Apple anywhere near that much to become the default search engine.

But the antitrust trials don’t scare Google. It’s artificial intelligence.

Google’s scared of AI replacing its core business

Artificial Intelligence is a real problem for Google, despite Google embracing it for many years. Well before ChatGPT and these other chatbots became popular, Google was always talking about AI, all the way back to its announcement of Google Now, back in 2012. But Google fell behind, when it comes to AI. OpenAI released ChatGPT and took over the world, becoming the fastest product to hit 100 million users.

And when it comes to search, AI is essentially replacing it these days. Think about it. When you need to look for an answer to something, where are you going? ChatGPT? Perplexity? Google? More and more people are using AI Chatbots to find answers, especially with the new Deep Research feature that many of these chatbots are adding now. And the AI alternatives often times provide better results, just take a look at this example from SEO Expert Lily Ray.

What it looks like to search for something on Google in the US (the first three screenshots) compared to ChatGPT (last screenshot)
Why is this so hard for Google?
And the search is literally about a Google product. pic.twitter.com/MZczhXDdys
— Lily Ray Read More