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We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

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Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#121

Post by moooo99 »

sedawkgrep wrote: post #62
nelblu wrote: post #15

> We’re introducing more helpful ads in AI Mode I always chuckle when ad companies say that. I have never seen a helpful ad in google search, but well I have been using adblockers forever so I would not know.I am honestly curious though, for those who don't use adblockers - what percentage of ads that you see are actually helpful?

Since when have we considered ads something helpful? Their purpose isn’t to be helpful. They're there to sell you something, and nothing more. Any semblance of helpfulness is misinterpretation and merely coincidental.

> Since when have we considered ads something helpful

I have genuinely met people who claim that ads are helpful and interesting and used this as a justification for adware companies to stalk you every step you take on the web.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#122

Post by superloika »

tremon wrote: post #107
superloika wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Block the AI overviews with extensions like https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/hide-google-ai-over... or use a userscript to do the same.

You can block the entire AI response, but not the paid-for product placement in the response separately.

Block the entire AI response. It's not a good thing. It tells you whatever google wants you to see. It's an incredibly powerful brainwashing tool.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#123

Post by otikik »

nelblu wrote: post #15

> We’re introducing more helpful ads in AI Mode I always chuckle when ad companies say that. I have never seen a helpful ad in google search, but well I have been using adblockers forever so I would not know.I am honestly curious though, for those who don't use adblockers - what percentage of ads that you see are actually helpful?

“Helpful to our short-term bottom line”

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#124

Post by stingraycharles »

bbmatryoshka wrote: post #75
akoboldfrying wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is not an elephant in the room, this is so obvious. Maybe they grew up in an environment where the phrase "elephant in the room" meant a situation where people enter a room, notice an elephant there, and immediately scream "Jesus Christ there's a goddamn elephant!"

Usually the elephant in a room is something very evident about which no one wants to discuss about

But everyone is discussing how AI will have ads, so it’s not an elephant in the room.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#125

Post by ardeaver »

Eldodi wrote: post #6

It will be interesting how hidden those ads will be compared to current Search experience or what OpenAI is already doing. It's a lot easier to mislead a user with an AI generated ad that with a Search result IMHO, I'm betting on a huige backlash if they don't make it VERY clear that ads are ads.

If that happens, I'm betting they get slapped with something inconsequential like a $1 million fine and write it off as the cost of doing business.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#126

Post by ToucanLoucan »

bayindirh wrote: post #56
reactordev wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why local AI is so important

It's already being trained on "public" (ethical or otherwise) data. So, it already has ingested that kind of "optimization" during pre-training and training. I don't think you can fine-tune your way out of it.

People still think these things are smart. That if their word generator eats enough of the Internet, it will somehow give them the real information that's otherwise hidden. Or perhaps a better word; filter the bullshit.

To filter bullshit it would first have to understand bullshit, and it doesn't. That's why an LLM will tell you the solution to a problem that doesn't work, and argue with you when you correct it.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#127

Post by IshKebab »

nelblu wrote: post #15

> We’re introducing more helpful ads in AI Mode I always chuckle when ad companies say that. I have never seen a helpful ad in google search, but well I have been using adblockers forever so I would not know.I am honestly curious though, for those who don't use adblockers - what percentage of ads that you see are actually helpful?

> I have never seen a helpful ad in google search

I have, fairly often in fact. That's why Google makes such a bucket load of money from their ads - they're actually vaguely relevant.

I've don't think I've ever seen a relevant ad outside of Google though, and I still wouldn't say "yeay, helpful ads!". Nobody is going to want them even though I occasionally get relevant ones and click on them.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#128

Post by emsign »

karlkloss wrote: post #8

Does nobody talk abot the elephant in the room? Will the answers the AI gives also be influenced by Googles customers?

The truth is brought to you by the highest bidder. Individuals, companies and nation states already pay for public relations. If Google offered them a service they'd pay good money.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#129

Post by hootz »

pbasista wrote: post #115
lars_von_pidor wrote: post #79

The only reason Google is pushing this AI crap is so that they can shove ads right into people's throats without them being able to use ad blockers (it's easy to block a web script but virtually impossible to block the text itself), effectively doubling their profits overnight.

> but virtually impossible to block the text itself Why do you believe so? As long as there is a clear indication somewhere on the webpage (in the metadata or in the text itself) that a specific portion of a text is an ad, a browser extension will be able to block it. And I assume that there are laws mandating that the ads must be clearly marked in order to be distinguishable from the genuine content.

That's only doable if the ads are artificially injected. But what if they are part of the training, system prompt or the search results that are fed to the AI? What if Google Search bumps up their paying advertiser up in the internal search results for Gemini (as they are basically already doing)? The AI will be biased towards the advertisers without literally embedding an ad into the output text.

Re: We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

#130

Post by bayindirh »

fsflover wrote: post #120
bayindirh wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's already being trained on "public" (ethical or otherwise) data. So, it already has ingested that kind of "optimization" during pre-training and training. I don't think you can fine-tune your way out of it.

This is far from widespread at the moment, so it'll be possible to at least use the current cutting-edge models locally in the future.

Far from widespread? SEO has seeped to all crevices of the internet for the last 20 years.
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