AI search – Google’s early generative missteps are fading as Alphabet’s latest results show growth in Google Services and Search revenue. At the same time, new AI-driven ad formats signal a shift toward monetizing answers themselves—raising fresh worries about what that m
For years, Google has been treated like the big incumbent that never quite learned the new game—mocked for early generative-era moves that largely stumbled while upstarts such as Perplexity and ChatGPT carved out attention.
But the scoreboard has shifted. Alphabet’s first-quarter earnings showed Google Services revenue up 16% to $89.6 billion, and Google Search and “Other” revenue up 19%. In the AI information boom, Google hasn’t lost its footing—at least not financially. The business is holding up.
That strength is now feeding confidence. At its I/O developer conference, Google rolled out many new AI products. One of the most notable for the media and advertising world isn’t a new model feature or a new chatbot experience. It’s a set of new ad formats designed to plug directly into the way answers are delivered.
Conversational Discovery ads are built on the fly to fit naturally into the response to a person’s query. appearing as a “sponsored” section. Highlighted Ads and AI-powered Shopping Ads work in a similar way, inserting ads into broader, category-specific queries. Then there are “Business Agents for Leads,” tailored versions of Gemini that appear within the ad experience.
These formats are still being tested. but the commercial direction is unmistakable: Google is getting more sophisticated about how it monetizes AI experiences. A few months earlier, Google said it had no plans to sell ads in Gemini. Executives also referenced that position in responses to ChatGPT ads. Yet the practical line between “Gemini” and “Gemini-powered experiences across Search” is now looking harder to draw. More Gemini-driven experiences inside Search are being commercialized, and that makes the reassurance feel less decisive than it once did.
The key shift is where the monetization happens. Those AI-powered ads appear within or next to an answer. The answer itself is meant to be built from the best information Google can find—often from media publishers. In the older system. Google sold ads prominently in results. and those ads gained a special advantage from being close to links from trusted media sources.
In this new setup, the user may get the information—and the ad path to transact—without ever leaving Google. The commercial move follows the attention, not just the click. Instead of monetizing the path to information, Google is now monetizing the information experience itself.
That leaves one party watching the bargain collapse in real time: publishers.
The business logic that used to make sense for publishers was simpler. When AI search was relatively new. Google could argue—truthfully—that an audience that visits a publisher site from AI answers was more likely to engage and transact. But if the latest ad experiences let users get the information inside the answer. there’s less reason to visit in the first place. These ad formats don’t just change where ads appear; they change what publishers can reasonably expect from the traffic they generate.
Trust still decides what users do next
Google’s commercial strategy may not be working against users so much as working around their attention. But users don’t care about business models. They care about trust—whether the answer feels right for the moment, and whether they can rely on it as events unfold.
A study published in Nature described trust in AI as dynamic and context-dependent: it changes depending on the nature of the AI experience and over time. Another study by the Reuters Institute found users had moderate trust in AI answers, while valuing speed and aggregation. In short, people like what AI does for them—until confidence wobbles.
Media brands understand this instinct better than anyone. Imagine two AI answers about the same product. One is built from social posts, blogs, Reddit threads, and online forums. The other comes from articles on Consumer Reports, the Wirecutter, Time, and CNET. The difference isn’t just accuracy—it’s familiarity. reputation. and the weight of an editorial brand that has built trust over time.
That’s why citations matter. People are more likely to trust answers created from brands they recognize.
There isn’t a lot of direct data yet about AI ad experiences specifically. But the traditional media advertising model has long been built on the same assumption: ads don’t only benefit from being present on a platform; they also benefit from being associated with the platform’s brand.
Google hasn’t shown much concern for what publishers want so far. Yet Google does need advertisers to believe AI search ads work. If advertisers start seeing stronger performance when ads appear beside credible. well-sourced answers. they will pay attention to the quality of what sits around their ads. That could eventually pressure Google to treat the source ecosystem differently.
The pressure may not take the form of simple licensing deals. It could mean clearer traffic paths, richer citation treatment, new publisher products, commercial partnerships, or advertiser demand for premium source environments inside AI search results.
A warning—and a different kind of value
Review sites are the clearest example because the transaction is obvious. If someone asks for the best dishwasher, an AI answer can cite reviews and then guide the user toward purchase. The same logic runs beyond commerce. A health answer, a travel plan, or even a summary of a political issue all rely on source trust. Even without an immediate checkout. the credibility of the answer shapes what users believe—and what they choose to do next.
So the warning is real: Google’s push into AI ad experiences could weaken traditional publisher revenue streams, especially traffic-based display, affiliate, and search-driven monetization.
But there’s another side to the equation, and it may be the more painful one for publishers to accept. If AI answers need credibility to be useful, then credible media still has value. That value may no longer show up as a click.
It will show up in something harder to measure: whether users trust the answers enough to act.
And in the race for that trust, the publisher’s role—once tied directly to traffic—may be shifting from destination to ingredient.
Alphabet Google I/O AI search Gemini Conversational Discovery ads Highlighted Ads AI-powered Shopping Ads Business Agents for Leads publisher traffic citations trust in AI Nature study Reuters Institute advertising monetization