Big Take Podcast

Google’s Quest to Transform Search With AI

On today’s Big Take podcast: Google’s risky gambit to revamp its lucrative namesake search engine after the debut of ChatGPT.

The Google Chrome search page on a smartphone.Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
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Search is the most lucrative part of Google’s business. So when ChatGPT launched in 2022 and offered to answer users’ every question, it posed an existential threat to the company, forcing Google to respond. Google had to figure out how to compete. But integrating generative AI into Google search would fundamentally change the company’s core product, and it introduced big risks.