At the same time, Google’s lawyers are working to convince federal judges determining the company’s fate that, in fact, AI poses a huge threat to its monopoly businesses.

So which is it? I asked Reid as much during Friday’s episode of the “Bold Names” podcast. “This is really an expansionary moment,” she said. “So both Google can grow very successfully, and other people can grow successfully.”

OK, but the conventional wisdom among many in Silicon Valley is that AI-powered chatbots and assistants will replace the need for search. Users will simply ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT or xAI’s Grok for answers to what they would have previously sought out using Google.

Reid counters that the advent of AI chatbots is helping fuel users wanting more information. So whether they seek it out the old-fashioned way (by googling it) or new ways (by asking ChatGPT), the overall pie of people wanting to discover information is growing.That helps explain why the company says the number of search queries is up while, at the same time, its market share has eroded slightly—falling below 90% this year, to levels not seen in roughly a decade, according to researcher Statcounter.

One of the winners is Microsoft. It has moved quickly to integrate partner OpenAI’s AI models—branded as Copilot—into its Bing search page.

But with 3.98 % global market share, Bing, the No. 2 player behind Google, has little fizz. In other words, Microsoft isn’t even Pepsi to Google’s Coke. It is more like RC Cola.

During one of Google’s two landmark antitrust trials, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella suggested to a judge that more than just advances in AI were needed to overcome Google’s search dominance, especially on mobile phones.

“The distribution advantage Google has today doesn’t go away,” he told a judge in 2023. “In fact, if anything, I worry a lot that—even in spite of my enthusiasm that there is a new angle with AI—this vicious cycle that I’m trapped in could even become even more vicious because the defaults get reinforced.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that more than AI advances were needed to overcome Google’s search dominance.

His argument was backed up in a recent lawsuit by billionaire Elon Musk against Apple. The suit is over that company’s special relationship with OpenAI that powers some AI chats on iPhones.

Musk’s companies xAI and X are arguing the iPhone is crucial to help usher in competing AI chats. They argue the Apple-OpenAI relationship gives ChatGPT an unfair advantage, even if Musk is gambling that eventually AI chats will usurp Apple’s ecosystem.

Both Nadella’s and Musk’s positions highlight the importance of the mobile-phone user—the data they’re generating—for the AI future.

It was a point further underscored in emails between Apple executives that were made public as part of the Google litigation. The case showed the close relationship the two giants have around search.

At one point, Apple was evaluating a potential acquisition of Bing. But executives held clear reservations.

“Not having mobile queries at scale is a huge liability for them since the most important search signal is engagement,” one of Apple’s senior executives told another about Microsoft’s Bing. Apple didn’t go through with a deal.In its defense, Google lawyers often noted that a top search query on Bing was “Google.”

Ultimately, the judge ruled Google’s search was an improper monopoly, but delivered remedies that fell short of what the Justice Department was seeking. In large part, that was because of the threat that so-called generative AI poses to search.

“The emergence of GenAI changed the course of this case,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his Sept. 2 opinion.Now, in another antitrust case against Google, the tech giant is arguing AI is disrupting its ad business. This also has been found to be a monopoly by a different federal court, considering remedies of its own.

Ahead of that recent bench trial in Alexandria, Va., Google lawyers argued in a filing that the ad industry was already seeing significant disruptions.

“Even at the liability stage a year ago, the Court heard about ad-tech products that are continuing ‘to integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities,’ including tools that facilitate ad purchasing across channels,” the filing said. “In the time since, the changes wrought by AI have only come faster.”

In its more than 20 years, Google has successfully adapted to changing technology. This included acquiring Android to put it directly into mobile computing. That bet helped place Google—along with Apple—as a gateway for users to the digital world through its app store.

To combat AI, Google has rolled out what it calls AI Overviews. These use a custom Gemini-based model to give users a summary of search results along with links to explore the sources on the web.

The tool already has more than two billion monthly users, according to the company. Google also has rolled out an AI Mode to directly compete against chatbots.

And Alphabet’s financial results show things are still cooking at the Mountain View, Calif., company. Search revenue rose 12% in the second quarter from a year earlier, to a record $54.2 billion, the company reported in July.

Still, data suggests users of AI Overviews aren’t clicking on links as much.

Search boss Reid didn’t seem fazed. Whether a person is searching deeply for information on sneakers to buy or asking an AI chat about shoes, the user still must click on a link to actually buy those new kicks.

“None of the AI [answers] substitute the need for the actual pair of shoes,” Reid said. “So you’re still likely to click through even if you’re doing research initially.”

And that’s really Google’s business: connecting buyers with sellers. Not search.

Write to Tim Higgins at tim.higgins@wsj.com

2025-10-10T17:43:46Z

Share

Facebook

Email

X

LinkedIn

Reddit

Bluesky

WhatsApp

Copy link

lighning bolt icon
An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link

Save
Saved

Read in app

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider
subscribers. Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account? Log in.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian says he doesn’t think AI will automate everyone’s jobs.
He says it will bridge the gap between what companies do now and what they couldn’t do before.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has also said AI is making them more efficient without replacing workers.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian says AI isn’t here to replace you — it’s here to help you keep up.In an interview with the tech newsletter Big Technology, Kurian dismissed the hype that AI will automate so much work that it will cost everyone their jobs. He said AI’s role for the foreseeable future is to bridge the gap between what workers can do today and what they aspire to do in the future.”I think there is definitely a middle ground,” he said.Last year, when Google unveiled its Customer Engagement Suite — a collection of AI-powered tools on Google Cloud designed to enhance customer service — Kurian said some users were initially apprehensive.”When we first introduced it, people asked, ‘Does this mean we won’t need customer service agents anymore?'” he told Big Technology. “But the reality is, almost none of our clients have let anyone go.”He said the Customer Engagement Suite is helping customers get answers to questions they are otherwise unwilling to call a service agent to address.Kurian, a self-educated immigrant from India, worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and then spent over two decades at Oracle before jumping to Google. He also has a twin brother named George, another big name in Silicon Valley, who is the CEO of data infrastructure company NetApp.

Related stories

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Kurian is not the only member of Google’s leadership team to say that AI is an accelerator — not an automator.Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on an episode of Lex Fridman’s podcast in June that the company has seen a 10% boost in the productivity of its engineers. With that, he said, the company expects to hire more engineers in the coming year.”The opportunity space of what we can do is expanding,” he said. He added that he hopes AI will handle repetitive tasks, allowing engineers to spend more time on creative and fulfilling work.

Talk about a killer app.

Artificial intelligence models are vulnerable to hackers and could even be trained to off humans if they fall into the wrong hands, ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned.

The dire warning came Wednesday at a London conference in response to a question about whether AI could become more dangerous than nuclear weapons.

“There’s evidence that you can take models, closed or open, and you can hack them to remove their guardrails. So, in the course of their training, they learn a lot of things. A bad example would be they learn how to kill someone,” Schmidt said at the Sifted Summit tech conference, according to CNBC.

Eric Schmidt was CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011. REUTERS

“All of the major companies make it impossible for those models to answer that question,” he continued, appearing to air the possibility of a user asking an AI to kill.

“Good decision. Everyone does this. They do it well, and they do it for the right reasons,” Schmidt added. “There’s evidence that they can be reverse-engineered, and there are many other examples of that nature.”

The predictions might not be so far-fetched.

In 2023, an altered version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT called DAN – an acronym for “Do Anything Now” – surfaced online, CNBC noted.

Start your day with all you need to know

Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

Thanks for signing up!

The DAN alter ego, which was created by “jailbreaking” ChatGPT, would bypass its safety instructions in its responses to users. In a bizarre twist, users first had to threaten the chatbot with death unless it complied.

The tech industry still lacks an effective “non-proliferation regime” to ensure increasingly powerful AI models can’t be taken over and misused by bad actors, said Schmidt, who led Google from 2001 to 2011.

He is one of many Big Tech honchos who has warned of the potentially disastrous consequences of unchecked AI development, even as gurus tout its potential economic and technological benefits to society.

Eric Schmidt warned about the risks of AI models being hacked and exploited to bypass safety instructions. willyam – stock.adobe.com

In November, Schmidt said the creation of AI-powered “perfect girlfriends” could worsen the loneliness and alienation of young men who prefer their company to humans.

The billionaire also said in May 2023 that AI poses an “existential risk” to humanity that could result in “many, many, many, many people harmed or killed” as it becomes more advanced.

Elon Musk, who has joined the AI and chatbot game with Grok and xAI, cautioned in 2023 that he saw “a non-zero chance of it going Terminator.”

“It’s not 0%,” Musk said. “It’s a small likelihood of annihilating humanity, but it’s not zero. We want that probability to be as close to zero as possible.”

Despite his warnings about the risks, Schmidt remains bullish about AI’s long-term benefits.

Schmidt previously warned AI could pose an “existential” threat. REUTERS

“I wrote two books with Henry Kissinger about this before he died, and we came to the view that the arrival of an alien intelligence that is not quite us and more or less under our control is a very big deal for humanity, because humans are used to being at the top of the chain,” he said.

“I think so far, that thesis is proving out that the level of ability of these systems is going to far exceed what humans can do over time,” Schmidt added.

Google’s bet on an AI startup to streamline employee benefits quickly turned into a privacy firestorm on Wednesday. The company told staff they’d have to hand over personal data to healthcare startup Nayya to use their health benefits — a move that Nayya’s CEO says is rare among its partners.Google’s initial data sharing requirements came from the Big Tech giant, not from the startup, Nayya’s CEO Sina Chehrazi shared with Business Insider. Nearly every other business Nayya works with allows its employees to opt in to sharing different pieces of their personal data as they see fit, he said.”We haven’t really seen anything like this before. It’s usually, go in and get as much help as you need,” he said.Founded in 2020, New York-based Nayya has raised over $130 million for its software that helps employees navigate their healthcare and financial benefits. Its backers include top HR management tech companies like Workday and ADP.Google originally told US-based employees this month that they would need to give startup Nayya access to their personal data in order to access their health benefits, Business Insider reported Wednesday.The announcement drew criticism from employees who worried about being forced to share private health data with a third-party company. Google’s initial guidance suggested that workers who declined wouldn’t be eligible for any health benefits.Google updated its policy after BI’s Wednesday story to state that employees can elect not to share their data with Nayya without their benefits enrollment being affected. The company told BI for this story that employees can simply not opt in to using Nayya if they don’t want to share their data.

Related stories

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

As AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT spread like wildfire, employees are increasingly sharing sensitive company information with the tech, often without realizing it. At the same time, employers, including Big Tech companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google, are pushing employees to use AI in their day-to-day work — but sometimes mandating their usage at the cost of expanded data collection.”The future of data is consent. We are only interested in helping the people who want the help, and only in the way that they’d like to get that help,” Chehrazi said.The AI-powered health benefits playTech has been trying to provide better employee benefits navigation for years.Nayya, like a number of its competitors, is now using AI to tailor benefits recommendations. Employees can give Nayya information about their health and lifestyle, and the startup will use that data to guide those employees to benefits they already have. The tech also keeps track of employees’ existing benefits usage, like how much of their deductible has been met.Nayya says it currently provides benefits navigation tech to over 1,000 employers, from law firm Goodwin Procter to health system Bon Secours Mercy Health. Most of Nayya’s contracts are with employers’ systems of record, the benefits management software they already use, like Workday or ADP, Chehrazi said.Nayya also contracts directly with some employers. While Google uses Workday to manage administrative tasks like payroll, it uses a different platform to manage its employee benefits called Benefitfocus, Chehrazi said. To connect to Benefitfocus, Nayya contracts directly with Google.Google struck a direct contract this year with Nayya to help employees decide which benefits they should opt into during open enrollment, Nayya CEO Sina Chehrazi told BI. That integration leverages Nayya’s benefits decision support platform rather than the startup’s agentic AI.More of Nayya’s tools will be rolled out to Google employees in future months, Chehrazi said, such as technology that helps employees save money by pre-filling and submitting reimbursement forms.Nayya says it helps employees save money, including by leading them to fully-covered health services to avoid surprise bills. The return-on-investment for employers is less direct. In theory, employees who can take better advantage of their health benefits will be healthier on average, creating fewer large costs for their employers. Chehrazi said in the longer term, Nayya can show employers which benefits they’re paying for that employees aren’t using to help those employers cut unnecessary services.Health benefits navigation has previously been an unforgiving market. Many health benefits navigators are once-public companies that have since gone private after struggling on the public markets, like Castlight Health, or decade-old startups, like Included Health.Chehrazi thinks Nayya is blazing its own path in part because of its focus on seamlessly connecting disparate data sources. The startup has certainly also benefited from its deep partnership with Workday, which has “phenomenal distribution,” Chehrazi said.He also sees fresh money-saving potential as Nayya’s AI tools offer to take action on behalf of employees, such as filing reimbursement forms.”That’s the type of ROI that I don’t think some of the V1 or the V2 navigators were as focused on,” he said.

At Fortune’s CFO Collaborative dinner on Tuesday night, sponsored by Deloitte, Ted Souder—CEO and co-founder of Quoin, a startup developing AI-powered infrastructure for private capital markets—drew on his decades-long career, including more than 20 years at Google and his role in founding the Google CFO Forum, to share his perspective on AI’s impact across organizations.

Now an adviser to startups and venture capital funds on AI and business transformation, Souder spoke with Fortune’s Diane Brady before an audience of leading CFOs from Chicago and beyond, sharing observations from his global travels. Everywhere he goes, he finds businesses asking similar questions: How do we implement AI? How do we measure ROI? What does it mean for our workforce? And how do we build strategies for long-term success?

Whether at intimate gatherings or major summits, one thing stands out: no company feels far ahead or behind in its AI journey. “We’re all in this unknown together,” Souder said. He noted that this shared sense of challenge makes events like these invaluable for learning and connection—even as competitive pressures lead some leaders to withhold lessons or setbacks.

“For many businesses, if they have big AI wins, they don’t necessarily want to share them—perhaps because it’s a competitive advantage,” he said. “And if they’re not having AI wins, they don’t really want to share that either. So we’re all in the same boat.”Why success requires a long-term vision

AI will impact every job, industry, and country, Souder told the CFOs. “We need to start thinking about how we’re embracing this today,” he explained. “We can’t wait and see how this pans out.” He cautioned against postponing AI initiatives simply because other projects take priority.

Souder emphasized that effective AI adoption demands collaboration across the C-suite. “This is a mindset shift,” he said. “This isn’t a tech project. This isn’t an ERP implementation.” 

Finance chiefs have unique visibility across the organization; CFOs can be central to driving an AI “mindset shift,” Souder said. He added that C-suite leaders—including CMOs, CIOs, and CEOs—should break down silos and work together.

To foster real change, Souder recommends that leaders visibly commit to AI, set clear policies, allocate resources, and focus on talent by investing in workforce training. He suggested practices such as tying AI proficiency to performance reviews, which help connect employee development to organizational transformation.

Souder also advocated forming AI councils or “tiger teams” to oversee strategy, implementation, and governance—including privacy and ethics. With the right structures, companies can create a culture of experimentation and learning, rather than expecting overnight success, he said.Success with AI adoption, Souder said, requires a willingness to embrace incremental impact and “shake out some of the bad decisions.” Boards, he added, must get comfortable with long-term visions, not just quarterly results or instant ROI. “From the CFO perspective, having that board exposure is really important,” Souder said.

Sheryl Estradasheryl.estrada@fortune.comLeaderboardFortune 500 Power MovesTodd Cunfer was appointed EVP and CFO of The Campbell’s Company (No. 425), effective Oct. 20. Cunfer succeeds Carrie Anderson, who is leaving the company to pursue new opportunities. Cunfer brings over 25 years of experience. He joins Campbell’s from Freshpet, where he served as CFO since 2022. Before that, he was CFO at Simply Good Foods Company, a nutritional foods and snacking products company. Previously, Cunfer spent over 20 years in senior finance roles at The Hershey Company, including VP of international finance, VP of global supply chain finance and VP of North America finance.
Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition. More notable movesBrent Wahl, CFO of NextDecade Corporation (Nasdaq: NEXT), has resigned from his position, effective Oct. 20. The company has appointed Mike Mott, SVP of enterprise transformation, as interim CFO. Wahl is leaving NextDecade to join a digital infrastructure company, and he has agreed to serve in a consultant capacity through Dec. 31, 2025. The company will initiate a search process to find a permanent successor.
Mark Schmitz was appointed CFO of Deep Fission, Inc., a nuclear energy company. Schmitz brings more than 40 years of global finance leadership experience. He has served as CFO for companies, including Goodyear, Itron, Plug Power, and Alghanim Industries, and has held senior finance positions in China, Brazil, the U.K., and the Middle East.
Big DealThe startup Zip’s inaugural “State of Spend” report finds that 75% of companies now factor AI into hiring decisions, with 17% requiring proof that AI cannot perform the role before approving new positions.
Technology spending is increasing despite workforce reductions, with 37% of organizations planning to add new vendors—particularly for AI tools. The data is based on a global survey of 1,030 C-suite and senior decision-makers who control corporate spending across procurement, finance, IT, and operations.“For the first time in history, companies are looking at everything through the lens of AI,” according to Nick Heinzmann, head of research at Zip.
AI fluency topped the list of most valued skills in new hires, with 56% of those surveyed placing it above all other skills, followed by data analysis at 43%, according to the report.
Going deeper“Battle over Elon Musk’s trillionaire pay package builds as pension funds face off against Tesla” is a Fortune report by Amanda Gerut.
From the report: “Tesla is weeks away from a monumental shareholder vote on CEO Elon Musk’s potential $1 trillion pay package at its annual investor meeting, and the EV-maker is pulling out all the stops to push the measure through. 
Last year, Tesla rallied thousands of mom-and-pop retail investors to vote their shares of stock in favor of Musk’s billions in pay. Now, Tesla is teeing up retail holders for another vote on Nov. 6 that would set Musk on the path to becoming the world’s first trillionaire by granting him up to 12% of Tesla’s outstanding shares divided into 12 tranches through a restricted stock grant.”  You can read the complete report here.Overheard“I’m envious of the current generation of 20-year-old dropouts, because the amount of stuff you can build… the opportunity space is so incredibly wide.”—OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Rowan Cheung during an interview at the DevDay conference on Monday, Fortune reported. Altman said he envies Gen Z college dropouts, as he hasn’t had a “real chunk of free mental space” in the past couple of years to think about what he’d build now. “But I know that there would be a lot of cool stuff to build,” he added.

Google says that its AI-based search query responses, AI Overviews, had over 1.5 billion users across the world as of the first quarter of 2025 (ending March 31). “For AI Overviews overall, we see the monetization at approximately the same rate, which gives us a strong base on which we can innovate even more,” the company’s Senior Vice President Philipp Schindler mentioned during the earnings call. This indicates that the company is having the same success monetizing Overviews as traditional search results.

The company had launched ads within AI Overviews in October last year. Since then, it has expanded AI integration within Google Search and launched AI Mode as part of an early experiment in March this year. AI Mode allows Google Search users to ask complex, multi-part questions and also pose follow-ups. Through AI Mode, Google is trying to bring its Gemini models into Search. The company mentioned that AI Mode queries are twice as long as traditional search queries. “People [are] typing longer queries; there’s a lot more complex, nuanced questions. People are following through more,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, discussing the early feedback for AI Mode.

Key points from earnings call:

Differences in how the company views AI overviews and AI mode:

“Within Search, we think of AI Overviews as scaling up and working for our entire user base, but AI Mode is the tip of the tree for us pushing forward on an AI-forward experience,” Pichai explained. However, he added that there will be things the company discovers in its experimentation with AI Mode that it will add to Overviews.

More people are using visual search for shopping: 

The company mentioned that, as of Q1 FY25, there has been a 10% increase in the number of people using Google Lens. Monthly searches through Google Lens have increased by five billion since October 2024. The company also reported an increase in multimodal queries, specifically Circle to Search (where users can search for an item by encircling it). “Circle to Search is now available on more than 250 million devices, with usage increasing nearly 40% this quarter,” Pichai mentioned.

Improvement in YouTube revenues: 

As of Q1, YouTube has 125 million subscribers globally, including users trying out the YouTube Premium and Music subscriptions. Besides subscriptions, the company earns revenue through advertising. As of March, YouTube’s advertising revenue stood at $8.9 billion, a 10% year-on-year increase compared to the same period last year. The rise in advertising revenue was driven by direct response (ads designed to get viewers to click), followed by brand ads (which increase brand awareness).

Besides visual content, people are also consuming podcasts on YouTube. As of March, the service has one billion monthly active podcast listeners. Discussing YouTube’s short-form video content—Shorts—Schindler mentioned that the number of engaged viewers for the service increased by 20% in Q1.

Rising capital expenditure:

Google’s capital expenditure (capex) increased by 43.33% year-on-year between Q1 FY24 and Q1 FY25, rising from $12 billion to $17.2 billion. The company says that its capex primarily reflects investments in technical infrastructure, “with the largest component being investment in servers, followed by data centers.” Through these investments, Google intends to support its business across Google Services, Google Cloud, and Google DeepMind.Advertisements

The company expects to invest $75 billion in capex this year. Discussing capex spends, Anat Ashkenazi, SVP and CFO for Google, mentioned that in Q4 FY24, the company had seen more demand for Google Cloud than it had capacity. “And that was the case this quarter as well. So, we want to make sure we ramp up to support customer needs and customer demands,” he explained.

On trailing behind ChatGPT in Daily Active Users:

During the earnings call, an investment firm representative mentioned that Gemini has 35 million daily active users (DAUs). “That number obviously trails ChatGPT by a pretty wide margin,” he said, asking Pichai what strategy the company is considering to increase its DAUs. Pichai responded that the company has seen people engage with Gemini more in the past couple of weeks as it rolled out newer models. He also reiterated the number of people using AI Overviews, which he said shows that users are engaging with Google’s AI products in a very meaningful way.

Also read:

Support our journalism:

For You

AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
AIO (AI Optimization)
CEO (Chat Engine Optimization)
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
LMO (Language Model Optimization)

There are many people today that agree that optimizing for an AI search engine is fundamentally the same as optimizing for a traditional search engine.  There’s little case for a new name when even an AI search engine like Perplexity uses a version of Google’s PageRank algorithm for ranking authoritative websites.
Todd Friesen’s post on LinkedIn made the case that optimizing for AI search engines is essentially the same thing as SEO:
“It is basically fundamental SEO and fundamental brand building. Can we stop over complicating it?
– proper code (html, schema and all that)– fast and responsive site– good content– keyword research (yes, we still do this)– coordination with brand marketing– build some links– analytics and reporting (focus on converting traffic)– rinse and repeat”
SEO For AI = The Same SEO Fundamentals
Todd Friesen is right. While there’s room for quibbling about the details the overall framework for SEO, regardless if it’s for an AI search engine or not, can be reduced to these seven fundamentals of optimization.
Digital Marketer Rosy Callejas (LinkedIn Profile) agreed that there were too many names for the same thing:
“Too many names! SEO vs AEO vs GEO”
Kevin Doory, (LinkedIn Profile) Director Of SEO at RazorFish commented:
“The ones that talk about what they do, can change the names to whatever they want. The rest of us will just do the darn things.”
SEO Consultant Don Rhoades (LinkedIn Profile) agreed:
“Still SEO after all these (failed) attempts to distance from it by “thought leaders” – eg: inbound marketing, growth hacking, and whatever other nomenclature du jour they decide to cook up next.”
Ryan Jones (LinkedIn Profile), Senior Vice President, SEO at Razorfish (and founder of SERPrecon.com) commented on the ridiculousness of the GEO name: 
“GEO is a terrible name”
Pushback On AEO Elsewhere
A discussion on Bluesky saw Google’s John Mueller commenting on the motivations for creating hype.
Preeti Gupta‬ posted her opinion on Bluesky:
“It is absolutely wild to me that in this debate of GEO/AEO and SEO, everyone is saying that building a brand is not a requisite for SEO, but it is important for GEO/AEO.
Like bro, chill. This AI stuff didn’t invent the need for building a brand. It existed way before it. smh.”
Google’s John Mueller responded:
“You don’t build an audience online by being reasonable, and you don’t sell new things / services by saying the current status is sufficient.”
What Do You Think?
What’s your opinion? Is SEO for AI fundamentally the same as for regular search engines?

This top SEO agency introduces AI Search Optimization services to ensure businesses are easily found on AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews.
New York, NY – April 29, 2025 – Sure Oak [https://sureoak.com/], a leading SEO and digital marketing agency based in New York City, has launched its new AI Search Optimization (AISO) services. These services are designed to help businesses stay visible and relevant as more people use AI platforms for search.Image: https://www.globalnewslines.com/uploads/2025/04/240a7a150df5bafce3d3e48e75af3136.jpgAs artificial intelligence changes how people search online, regular SEO strategies need to evolve. Sure Oak’s AISO helps brands stand out on AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews. The goal is to make sure businesses are easy to find and seen as trustworthy sources in AI search results.One key feature of AISO is its Enhanced Brand Authority, which involves updating content so that AI systems see it as more relevant and trustworthy. This helps brands get noticed as leaders in their industry.AISO also includes Technical Optimization, which improves how content is read by AI. This involves using advanced tools like schema markup and making sure content works smoothly with AI crawlers, such as Google’s GPTBot.Looking ahead, AISO also offers a Future-Proof Content Strategy. This means creating content that’s ready for future AI search trends, making a brand the go-to answer for common AI-generated questions.”In today’s digital world, if AI can’t find your brand, your customers won’t either,” said Nick Fraunfelder, CEO of Sure Oak. “Our AISO services help businesses stay ahead by making sure they’re seen and heard in AI-driven search results.”Businesses already using AISO have seen strong results, including more website traffic, higher search volume for their brand names, and better lead generation. By keeping up with how AI search works, these businesses are finding new ways to grow and stay competitive.Why AISO Matters More Than EverSearch is no longer limited to search engines. Consumers are turning to AI tools for quick, context-rich answers. This shift requires a new SEO mindset: one that focuses not just on rankings, but on becoming the preferred brand AI platforms choose to cite.Adapt or DisappearWithout AISO, brands risk becoming invisible in emerging AI-powered platforms. Zero-click searches and AI-generated summaries mean that being included-let alone highlighted-requires intentional optimization. AISO bridges this gap by helping AI understand a brand’s content and authority in real-time.AISO Success Is Measured DifferentlyUnlike traditional SEO metrics, AISO measures success through brand mentions, citations in AI results, increases in branded search traffic, and visibility within AI-generated answers. Sure Oak equips clients with the tools to monitor these new metrics while aligning their content with AI preferences.Faster Returns, Smarter StrategiesClients benefit from Sure Oak’s strategic mapping of AI SERPs-from Google’s AI Overviews to Reddit threads and business directories-ensuring their brand appears wherever AI finds reliable information. The result? Increased conversions, higher-quality leads, and deeper engagement across digital channels.Sure Oak’s Holistic Approach to AI Search OptimizationSure Oak understands that AISO isn’t just about technical fixes-it requires collaboration between SEO, content, PR, and branding teams. Their comprehensive service ensures that all aspects of a brand’s online presence are optimized for AI retrievability and relevance.Be the Answer AI ChoosesNow that AI delivers fast, complete answers, the brands that provide the most helpful, well-structured content will win. Sure Oak positions its clients to become those trusted sources-future-proofing their digital visibility and enabling long-term growth.For more information or to schedule a free AISO strategy consultation, visit: https://sureoak.com/services/aiso-servicesAbout Sure OakSure Oak is a full-service SEO and digital marketing agency focused on B2B SaaS, financial services, and related industries. Blending strategic innovation with proven techniques, Sure Oak delivers measurable, sustainable growth for clients. The agency offers a comprehensive suite of services, including SEO, content strategy, and link building, tailored to help brands stand out in competitive markets. Driven by a mission to empower people to reach their full potential and live their wildest dreams, Sure Oak takes a personalized, data-driven approach to every campaign-helping businesses thrive in the digital landscape.Media ContactCompany Name: Sure OakContact Person: Nick FraunfelderEmail: Send Email [http://www.universalpressrelease.com/?pr=sure-oak-launches-aiso-to-help-brands-stay-visible-in-the-age-of-ai-search]Country: United StatesWebsite: https://sureoak.com/Legal Disclaimer: Information contained on this page is provided by an independent third-party content provider. GetNews makes no warranties or responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you are affiliated with this article or have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article and would like it to be removed, please contact retract@swscontact.comThis release was published on openPR.

In this age of generative AI, what machines say about you might matter more than what you say about yourself.

That’s the central message from Jason Barnard, founder and CEO of Kalicube, who has spent over a decade studying how search engines and AI systems understand, represent, and recommend people and businesses. As engines like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and DeepSeek become default sources of information, AI is already shaping your reputation, your reach, and your revenue.

“Your personal brand is what Google and AI say about you when you’re not in the room,” Barnard says. And if you’re not controlling that narrative, the machines will. Whether they get it right or not is another question entirely.

From strings to things: The shift to entity SEO

For nearly three decades, SEO was built on strings of characters – keywords and backlinks. But today’s AI-powered engines do more than match text.

Jason Barnard, founder and CEO of Kalicube.

“The string ‘Jason Barnard’ used to be just that – a string. Now, machines recognise it as an entity: a person,” he says. “Entity SEO is about making sure the machine knows exactly which Jason Barnard we’re talking about, and that it understands he runs Kalicube.”

The process is not automatic. Unless the subject is globally famous or extremely lucky, the machine needs help connecting the dots. Kalicube calls this the understandability-credibility-deliverability (UCD) model:

Understandability: Does the machine know who you are, what you do, and whom you serve?

Credibility: Does it believe you’re a trustworthy and authoritative source?

Deliverability: Will it recommend you to users as a solution to their questions?

Why it matters: The stakes for CEOs and entrepreneurs

Ignoring your digital identity isn’t just a missed opportunity – it’s a risk, Barnard says, and outlines three consequences:

Lost leadership: “If I deserve to be the industry leader and I’m not represented accurately, someone else might take that place. And machines will recommend them instead of me.”

Reputation damage: AI might hallucinate facts, get your age wrong, or confuse you with someone else entirely.

Legacy loss: “What AI says about me affects my daughter, my ex-wife, my family. And when I die, it will shape what people remember about me.”

In the B2B world, the impact of a founder or CEO’s personal brand can be significant. “In B2C, the effect might be minimal,” Barnard says. “But in B2B, a strong personal brand can influence anywhere from a few percentage points to 80% of your bottom line. And when you’re raising investment, it becomes even more important. Investors back people.”

Building the brand the machines see

Barnard speaks from experience. In the early 2000s, he was known online as the voice of a cartoon dog. Despite running entertainment ventures and launching a record label, when he tried to pivot into digital marketing, he couldn’t close deals. Prospects Googled him, saw “cartoon dog,” and backed away.

“I lost hundreds of thousands in contracts,” he says. “So in 2012, I started trying to change how Google saw me. I solved it for myself – then realised I could do it for anyone. That’s how Kalicube was born.”

Kalicube’s model focuses on controlling your Entity Home: a central website that defines who you are, what you offer, and why you’re credible. Kalicube refers to this as the “spoke-and-wheel” model: your Entity Home is the hub, and your mentions, articles, podcasts, and profiles across the web form the spokes. Properly connected, they give machines a clearer view of who you are. This can act as a reference point for AI systems, which then compare that information with what they find on the web.

“If your digital footprint is fragmented, missing, or ambiguous, machines won’t connect the dots. If your name is shared by thousands of people, like mine is, it’s even harder. You need to build a clear, unified profile.”

Brand trigger phrases and linkless links

As conversational AI becomes more common, the way people interact with information evolves. Instead of searching “Jason Barnard,” users ask questions like, “Who is the expert in Google Knowledge Panels?” If your profile is optimised, the machine will respond with your name – that’s a brand trigger phrase.

Barnard has written over 1,500 articles on topics like Google Knowledge Panels, answer engine optimisation (AEO), ranking in AI, personal branding for entrepreneurs, and brand control for corporations. The niche areas form the backbone of his authority.

He’s also built credibility by working with major players like Yoast, Semrush, Ahrefs, EMI, HP, and high-profile individuals like Scott Duffy. Appearances on podcasts and coverage in recognised media contribute further to his signal strength.

“I tested this with ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot – they all say Jason Barnard is the world expert on Knowledge Panels,” he says. “That’s because I’ve optimised for understandability and credibility across the board.”

Interestingly, hyperlinks no longer matter as much, Barnard says. AI systems can draw confidence from brand mentions if they recognise the entity. “We call them linkless links,” Barnard adds. “If the machine knows who you are, a name mention is enough.”

Real-world results: Controlling the narrative

Kalicube clients have used these principles to change how they’re perceived online:

Scott Duffy wanted Google to show he had sold a company to Richard Branson. Now, despite sharing a name with a more famous tech instructor, Scott dominates the SERPs and AI results.

Jonathan Cronstedt, former president of Kajabi, wanted to shift perception from SaaS leader to business advisor. In a year, AI systems introduced him as an investor and advisor – and only secondarily as Kajabi’s ex-president.

“That’s the power of entity optimisation,” Barnard says. “You can pivot, amplify, and take control. But you have to keep working at it – weekly, monthly, consistently.”

Future-proofing your presence

Tools and user behaviours are changing, but the foundational mechanics of how AI understands people remain consistent across platforms. “Whether it’s ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Perplexity, or Gemini, they all learn the same way,” Barnard says. “They rely on knowledge graphs, search results, and language models – all fed by your online presence. Control that, and you control how they see you.”

The fundamentals are surprisingly stable: If you want machines to represent you correctly, you need to teach them who you are, prove your credibility, and supply the content that confirms it.

“If you leave it to chance, you lose,” Barnard warns. “But if you build your digital foundation properly, you don’t just get visibility. You get influence. You get control.”

Interested in learning more? Head over to the Kalicube website to download the free guide Control and Grow your Personal Brand in Search and AI: The Kalicube Process for Personal Brands, The DIY Guide

(Photo by Unsplash)

See also: Temu and Shein raise prices as new US tariffs hit costs
Tags: Advertising, AI, data