Sundar Pichai Says Google Search Will Be Absorbed by AI Agents
Instead of serving lists of links, Google expects automated software agents to execute complex user tasks directly—a shift that threatens the company's classic ad-click engine.
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai envisions the future of web search not as a ten-blue-links directory, but as an invisible substrate beneath autonomous software agents. In remarks highlighted by Search Engine Journal, Pichai stated that traditional query search will gradually be absorbed into an "agentic layer" designed to execute tasks on behalf of users.
Under this model, users bypass the manual process of typing keywords, filtering search results, and visiting individual websites. Instead, a user gives an agent an objective—such as comparing product specifications, planning travel, or finalizing a purchase—and the agent interacts directly with web services to deliver an outcome rather than a reading list.
For a business built almost entirely on monetizing ad clicks across search result pages, framing this migration as a natural architectural evolution carries obvious financial friction. As conversational competitors like ChatGPT and Perplexity peel away high-intent navigational and research queries, pitching an agent-driven search experience functions partly as strategic vision and partly as investor reassurance.
The transition also shifts the mechanics of online publishing and search optimization. Rather than tailoring metadata and keywords to appease traditional crawler indexing, websites will need to structure verifiable, direct answers that autonomous agents can ingest and rely upon when resolving human intent. Whether Google can monetize those automated middleman transactions at the scale of its legacy ad business remains unanswered.
Source: habr
Referenced report: Search Engine Journal
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