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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

#91

Post by bandrami »

chilli_axe wrote: post #51
stingraycharles wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not an elephant in the room, this is so obvious and discussed all the time. What else is Google going to do, give up their one and only goose that lays the golden eggs? Regular search being replaced with AI search means regular search (with ads) being replaced with AI search (with ads). The benefit of AI search will be that it’s much better “integrated” in the answer, aka even harder to detect.

Elephants in the room are obvious by definition.

I think the point of the phrase is that it is obvious but people refuse to talk about it

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

#92

Post by justincormack »

gbro3n wrote: post #12
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?

I won't be able to use their AI results if they are, personally. If I ask the question "what is the best tool for doing x" and I can't trust that the answer is going to be the truth according to all available information, then the AI is useless or worse, misleading. If google is unbiased, and only highlights paid advertiser mentions, no one will pay. I'd only accept this if it was a clear separation of LLM response a…

There is no “true answer given all available infomation” maybe unless you give an eval function.

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

#93

Post by pbasista »

QuantumNoodle wrote: post #54

> With Conversational Discovery ads, your ad answers a person’s specific question. Ah so my "search" results are going to be biased and at the mercy of the highest bidder. Only a matter of time before someone will sell privileges of baking your ad/agenda into a llm model during training. That, or companies will fluff their own websites with verbose claims about their products that will get sucked into training via "o…

That is how I understand it as well.

Enshittification of the AI tools has officially begun.

Maybe we will soon find e.g. AI-generated pictures of ourselves in branded clothes or using branded products to appear among our photos, discretely disguised as genuine photos with a little badge in the corner indicating that it is actually a paid "promotion".

And so on. And that would still be, in my opinion, just the beginning.

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

#95

Post by akoboldfrying »

FinnKuhn wrote: post #7

I would have expected them to wait with ads until OpenAI starts first and users switch to Gemini. Google is probably the player that could afford to wait the longest with this and increase their market share that way.

100%. This is the only part that I find surprising/confusing. Surely whoever blinks first incurs a massive reputational hit with the public (who don't think about this deeply enough to see that it was always inevitable), so why do that if you don't have to?

Perhaps the bright side from Google's POV is that it means that they can be the first to start wooing advertisers to their platform. First-mover advantage there might outweigh reputational damage with the public, especially if OpenAI follows suit with ads in 6 months.

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

#96

Post by jslakro »

Allowing synthetic content to grow without limits will force the creation of a "synternet," an only-generative content network that can be accessed but will guarantee the classic internet to be human-focused, otherwise, internet data will lose value and the human incentive to surf will be lost

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

#97

Post by doginasuit »

> No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

If humanity makes it out of the current era with our dignity and intellect intact, I think we will recognize that allowing ad companies to build our vital infrastructure was a tragic mistake.

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

#98

Post by xnorswap »

zeafoamrun wrote: post #83

I guess I'm used to seeing the english language being mangled by corp-speak but "creative" as a noun that doesn't even refer to a "creative" person (which also feels like a recent addition) really grates!

I thought "a creative" was the person who designs adverts, but I guess it's acting as a good filter, to filter out people like me, because I'm clearly not the target audience for this.

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

#99

Post by elpocko »

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.

This might come as a surprise to many, but the sole reason Google exist is to make a profit. More profit means more success means more profit, that's why they did create a company in the first place. Mindblowing stuff, that.

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

#100

Post by thrance »

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?

What about political ads? Will the AI lie about news to further the interests of Google's patrons?
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