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Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

chuckwnelson.com

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Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#41

Post by nicbou »

binkHN wrote: post #7

> Enter 2024 with AI. The top 20% of search results are a wall of text from AI... I'll be the contrarian here and say I actually like Google's AI Overview? For the first time in a long time, I can search for an answer to a question and, instead of getting annoying ads and SEO-optimized uselessness, I actually get an answer. Google is finally useful again. That said, once Google screws with this and starts making sear…

The answers come from the same websites. They just get stripped of their traffic. As someone who puts a ton of work into writing accurate, helpful guides, it's devastating to have my work plundered like that.

Once these monopolies have successfully established themselves, they will become indistinguishable from the ad-invested websites they replace. The only difference is that they will create no new information of their own, and they will destroy the indieweb that once provided it.

Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#42

Post by potsandpans »

Just sharing an anecdote:

I was searching for a quote that I'd heard in an audiobook the other day. I just had the general paraphrase, and didn't feel like scanning through the chapters to go find it. This was a somewhat obscure source.

Google had just straight garbage for me. The quote was political in nature, and I felt like the results were fighting general tone-policing filters and were tuned for recent events.

o1 on the other hand, found the author of the quote, summarized the general idea of what i might be searching for and then cited potential sources.

It's just patently obvious to me that google has failed in delivering the core value prop of their product, they're begging to be replaced.

Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#43

Post by warner25 »

binkHN wrote: post #7

> Enter 2024 with AI. The top 20% of search results are a wall of text from AI... I'll be the contrarian here and say I actually like Google's AI Overview? For the first time in a long time, I can search for an answer to a question and, instead of getting annoying ads and SEO-optimized uselessness, I actually get an answer. Google is finally useful again. That said, once Google screws with this and starts making sear…

But "search" and "getting an answer to a question" are two different things, aren't they? I realize that the trend has been going this way for a long time - probably since Ask Jeeves started blurring the line - and this is indeed how a lot of people try / want to use search engines, but still... I wish that Google (and competitors) would have separate pages for something like "Ask Google" vs. traditional search (where I want to find a particular document or quality content on a certain topic instead of just getting a specific answer).

May I ask how old you are? I'm 38 and I've been trying hard to break my 10 year-old of the habit of just typing questions into search engines (or telling me to "Ask Google" whenever she asks me a question and I say, "Oh, I don't know").

Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#44

Post by ClimaxGravely »

binkHN wrote: post #7

> Enter 2024 with AI. The top 20% of search results are a wall of text from AI... I'll be the contrarian here and say I actually like Google's AI Overview? For the first time in a long time, I can search for an answer to a question and, instead of getting annoying ads and SEO-optimized uselessness, I actually get an answer. Google is finally useful again. That said, once Google screws with this and starts making sear…

The few times I gave it a try it was dead wrong. The dream is nice but the execution is lacking.

Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#45

Post by bambax »

> Does ChatGPT Search have trust? Open AI isn't monetizing its search just yet, but AI has its own issues with hallucinations.

Everywhere where SEO people congregate, they talk only about this: how to produce content that will eventually end up in training data for LLMs, so that when you ask about anything remotely connected to a given brand, its products will show up in the response.

Ads are bad enough today, but it's possible the future will be worse: product placement in everything, everywhere, all of the time.

Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#46

Post by Kiro »

GiorgioG wrote: post #19
m_ke wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be great if it wasn't completely wrong 50% of the time.

Describes my general experience with AI across the board. Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, etc. It’s like I’m talking to a genius toddler. With ChatGPT losing 5 billion dollars on 3.7B in revenue this is unsustainable. It feels like the dotcom bubble all over again.

What are you using it for?

Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#48

Post by thrance »

There is no cure to the endless stream of AI generated SEO-trash. As long as there is a system to game and an incentive to do so, it will be gamed.

The only solution I can dream of is to remove the incentive, aka remove advertising. I'm afraid I'll be dead long before that.

Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#49

Post by jeffbee »

m0llusk wrote: post #32
fratlas wrote: post #2

People want to spend less time on a task. Whichever tool succeeds at this will win.

Time on task only matters for the lowest paid. At high levels robust, predictable, and other characteristics compete strongly for value. Do you want the most accurate medical diagnosis or the fastest?

Is that your typical search engine use case or are you more likely trying to find out when the taco stand opens?

Re: Google's Results Are Infested, Open AI Is Using Their Playbook from the 2000s

#50

Post by ethbr1 »

traverseda wrote: post #25
m_ke wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be great if it wasn't completely wrong 50% of the time.

That's a very pessimistic take. It's right about 50% of the time!

Both of your requirements for correctness are just 50% too high.
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