Artificial intelligence has ceased to be a research element, a laboratory novelty, to become a central piece of the present and future of Google’s business. This was expressed by Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, during his traditional interview with tech journalist Nilay Patel on the podcast Decoder, recorded just after the Google I/O 2025 event.
In an extensive and very interesting conversation, Pichai spoke about the impact of AI on the digital ecosystem, including the radical transformation of the way to search on Google, the evident tension these changes are creating with the media, the future of AI-first products, and how artificial intelligence is reshaping the advertising sector for marketers, publishers, and content creators.
“We are in a new phase of the platform shift”, Pichai noted. A shift that goes beyond the interface, as AI not only interprets but also creates, improves, and acts. «We call it ‘research becomes reality’ because we are witnessing how all that technical knowledge is transforming into real and useful products», he explained.
Among these products are the AI of Gemini, generative models like Veo 3, and features such as automated responses, AI Overviews, which are already impacting the way users interact with search results. It is clear from the interview that Pichai is an enthusiast of what artificial intelligence entails:
«I believe AI will be bigger than the internet. Companies, products, and categories will be created that we are unaware of today. I think the future looks exciting. I believe there are many opportunities to innovate in hardware formats currently with this platform shift. I am eager to see what they do. We are going to do much as well. I think it is an exciting time to be a consumer and a developer. I look forward to it».
First of all, Pichai wanted to address a reality that directly affects a search engine that needs to “order” the web like Google: the accelerated hyper-expansion of the digital universe: «There are more creators, and people are publishing more content (…) When we examine the number of web pages available, that figure has increased by 45% in just the last two years. It is astounding».
However, that expansion is not explained solely by the emergence of AI: «We have many techniques to try to understand the quality of a page, including whether it was machine-generated, etc. That does not explain the trend we are seeing (…) I believe people are producing a lot of content, and I see consumers consuming a lot of content.»
One of the most intriguing aspects of the interview came when Patel and Pichai discussed the direct effect of AI on the search experience. The Google CEO did not avoid the topic and highlighted that the company is seeing an increase in the number of queries, thanks precisely to AI’s capabilities to extend and enrich searches.
“Search growth continues. We see more queries, and they are also more complex”, he said. This includes more steps in a single interaction thanks to AI’s conversational mode, something that, according to Pichai, does not replace but enhances the use of the search engine.
He also defended the impact of AI Overviews and the new AI Mode against media criticism, which sees this feature as a threat to the organic traffic they are receiving and that, in some cases, is plummeting due to the way these automatic responses fully complete the user’s search intent without redirecting them to any final web: “No one sends more traffic to the web than we do”, he assured, adding that the new AI features do not eliminate but rather redistribute traffic towards a greater number of sources:
«I believe part of the reason people come to Google is to experience the breadth of the web and follow the path they desire, right? So I think we provide more context. Yes, there are certain questions that could have an answer, but in general… Over the last year, it has become clear that the breadth of the area to which we send people is increasing. And I hope this also applies to AI mode».
The tensest moment came when he was asked about the statement from the main association of media publishers in the United States, the News Media Alliance, which described AI Mode as a form of “content theft”. Pichai responded cautiously but firmly: “We take sending traffic to the web very seriously and remain committed to it”.
Regarding changes in SEO and web traffic, Pichai stated that AI-generated searches tend to provide more qualified traffic, although he also acknowledged that some publishers may feel a decrease if the pie is shared among more actors. “We are sending more traffic, but to more places. That also changes the dynamics”, he admitted.
«We have gone through the same with featured snippets. It is also referral traffic of higher quality. And we can see that because the time people spend is a metric. And there are other ways to measure the quality of our outgoing traffic, and it is also increasing. (…) That is how Google has worked for 25 years, and we end up sending more traffic over time. That is how I would expect all this to unfold».
Furthermore, he defended the use of signals such as the quality of pages or whether they are generated by AI, and reiterated that ranking remains key for Google: “No one inside Google can manually alter a ranking”, he emphasized.
Pichai also addressed the opportunities that AI opens for marketers and digital product creators. He pointed out the rise of tools like NotebookLM or Flow, which allow for the creation of content, analytics, and interactive experiences through AI.
Beyond SEO, digital marketing will need to adapt to this new multimodal environment, something that directly affects how brands distribute their messages and experiences:
«AI will allow format switching to be frictionless, right? Because our models are natively multimodal. We spark people’s imagination with audio summaries in NotebookLM, right? The fact that you can throw a bunch of documents at it, have a podcast, and be able to join and learn from it. I think this notion, the moment of content production by format, while… machines can help translate it. It is almost like different languages, and they can move seamlessly between them. I believe it is one of the incredible opportunities about to be unlocked.»
One of the most disruptive visions of the talk was that of a “agent-oriented web”, where pages become databases consultable by artificial intelligences, i.e., Pichai explores the vision of a web designed not only for humans but also for AI agents, which operate as automated intermediaries in everyday tasks: “The agent will be a new interface”.
For advertisers, this will mean a reconfiguration of the funnel: a deep change in how searches and user experience are evolving, which has direct implications for the conversion funnel. In this context, conversational and proactive experiences will replace classic searches, with agents not only displaying information but executing actions such as bookings or purchases, as we saw in the presentation of the Project Mariner.
In conclusion, Pichai outlined the next frontier: general-purpose robots. “When AI combines with robotics and acts in the physical world, we will experience another platform shift”, he anticipated.
Meanwhile, in the immediate present, the challenge for digital marketing is clear: adapt to a changing ecosystem, centered on experience, quality, and real utility for the user. Google is already leading the way, and those who can interpret the signals will be able to anticipate this new wave.
Image: Flux Schnell
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