Ruth Porat, Google’s chief investment officer and president, says Google has made multimillion-dollar investments in founders, internet infrastructure and clean energy, but its biggest gamble so far is adding artificial intelligence to search.
“The biggest bet we’re continuing to make is actually applying AI to search and continuing to improve that experience,” Porat said at the Reuters NEXT Conference earlier this week. “We meet people where they want to meet. It’s unusual.”
Porat noted that it was “great” to see Google Search move from the “10 blue links,” or 10 links per page that characterized Google’s old search results interface, to the current AI overview, or AI-written summary of search results. Top of search.
“It continues to evolve,” he said.
Google CIO Ruth Porat. Joe Scarnici/Getty Images Photo for Fortune
Google began rolling out its AI vision to US users in May. Almost immediately, things started to go wrong. AI-powered search results, for example, produced inaccuracies or hallucinations that instructed users to eat rocks or make pizza sauce with non-toxic glue.
Related: These are the “most obvious” risks of artificial intelligence, according to a former Google CEO
In the months that followed, Google adjusted the sources it took for AI reviews, moving away from forum-based sites like Reddit and more toward specialist sites like Runners World.
Now it’s clear that Google intends to add AI features to search, even if it’s a risky move.
Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai explained at an event New York Times DealBook Summit, Google Search will change significantly next year. As AI models continue to improve, Akhtar will be able to solve more complex questions than ever before.
“I think you’ll be surprised at the newer things Search can do at the beginning of ’25 than it can do now,” he said.
Related: Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says You’ll Be Surprised How Google Search Will Change Next Year
According to Stat Counter, Google Bing and Yahoo! owning only 3.94% and 1.24% respectively.