AI Could Give Google Its Kodak Moment as a New Age of Artificial Intelligence Internet Search Begins
Australian Financial Review
SKIPPED
Details
- Date Published
- 14 June 2025
- Priority Score
- 3
- Australian
- Yes
- Created
- 15 June 2025, 12:26 pm
Description
A new age of search is dawning on us, but the sharemarket can’t work out if the dominant player can maintain its status as the internet’s front door.
Summary
The article examines the potential disruption that advanced AI technologies pose to Google's dominance in internet search. It raises questions about Google's future amidst the rise of AI-powered alternatives, comparing this potential downfall to Kodak's failure to adapt to digital photography changes. The transition towards AI-driven search engines could fundamentally alter how users interact with the internet and impact Google's financial performance. This discussion is significant for examining how frontier AI capabilities might lead not just to commercial shifts but could also involve broader implications for AI governance and market stability, particularly through how major tech firms adapt to these changes.
Body
MarketsEquity MarketsSharemarketPrint articleJun 15, 2025 – 4.00pmSaveLog inorSubscribeto save articleShareCopy linkCopiedEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookCopy linkCopiedShare via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?LoginThe Google search engine has become such a ubiquitous part of life that it’s difficult to imagine the possibility that one day it could just vanish. Yet, that is what financial markets are doing – pondering an artificial intelligence-powered future of searchin which Google is left behind.Sure, the search engine’s parent Alphabet has a market capitalisation that, at $US2 trillion ($3.3 trillion), exceeds the entire Australian sharemarket. But the value of Google could and would be larger were it not for growing anxiety that AI is going to totally upend the way we find things on the internet, and how businesses pay platforms like Google for customers.Loading...Jonathan Shapirowrites about banking and finance, specialising in hedge funds, corporate debt, private equity and investment banking. He is based in Sydney.Connect withJonathanonTwitter.EmailJonathanatjonathan.shapiro@afr.comSaveLog inorSubscribeto save articleShareCopy linkCopiedEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookCopy linkCopiedShare via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?LoginLicense articleFollow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.Find out moreRead MoreSharemarketOpinionGoogleInvestingAIWeb cultureDisruptionFetching latest articlesThe top whisky you can buy without going on a waiting listMax AllenThe luxury travel trend you probably haven’t consideredThe restaurant that’s turning back the clock (in the best way)Forget WFH – what it’s really like to ‘work from anywhere’Rachael BoltonThe US governance model taking over Australian boardroomsThis CEO wakes at 5am, but doesn’t get in to work till 10amRunning and a ‘cheeky’ vice set this Sydney CEO up for the dayLife & LeisureWhy this new Australian electric motorbike is a game changerOne of Australia’s most loved authors reveals her weekend ritualsBillionaires Escalante and Arnaout taking liberties with ASICPrimrose RiordanCinema giant flags part-sale of Sydney’s George Street complexAnnie Cannon-Brookes steps out on her own