AI search may kill the click. But users still need to trust the answers

Google’s new AI ad formats could weaken publisher traffic, but they also reveal why credible media still matters.

[Images: Google, Adobe Stock]

Pete Pachal is a journalist and the creator of Media Copilot, a newsletter and podcast that examines how AI is changing media, journalism, and the news.

It’s hard to think of Google as a comeback story, because it never went away, but in the world of AI, it’s a fitting narrative. The company was broadly mocked for its early moves in the generative era, which were mostly stumbles. Upstarts like Perplexity and ChatGPT were nipping at its market share with arguably more innovative experiences. It had to navigate choppy antitrust waters.

Today, Google is in a much stronger position. Not because it’s just coming off its I/O........

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