Google is shifting its narrative about its relationship with the open web, and it's not even subtle anymore.
Google used to at least try giving the impression that the open web was a partner for its AI offerings and would get a fair shake. In a recent podcast after I/O, CEO Sundar Pichai sounded far more guarded.
Asked whether Google would still show links going forward, Pichai said, "Sources and links will always be there as part of it." Worth pausing on that. Sources and links as a part of search. Not its foundation.
If sources and links are just a feature, what exactly is the product? Pichai can't mean searching within AI models trained on stale data. And even then, sources and links aren't "part" of that training. They very much are the training.
That framing signals where Google is heading: quietly sidelining the open web's role in its own product. Google's AI answers will keep pulling from web content, but that content is getting pushed further into the background as the answer engine takes over. Pichai also pointed to long-term product metrics showing clearly positive reactions to AI search, saying users keep coming back.
