It’s been an incredibly busy few weeks since the launch of my book, Marketing with AI for Dummies especially with the recent sale of publishing rights for Brazil and Bulgaria and now the AI Trailblazers Growth Summit just around the corner tomorrow. However, I’m keen to settle into a more consistent rhythm of publishing as it is such a unique time. What makes this moment particularly challenging—and thrilling—is how rapidly the AI landscape is evolving. It’s both an exciting and demanding time to be plugged into the AI industry.
Even for someone like me, engaged in the field as an advisor, speaker, and investor, it can be difficult to separate meaningful advancements from overhyped noise. One area generating significant buzz is Search, which many argue is being reshaped by tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. However, the reality is that this transformation is more evolutionary than revolutionary—progress is happening slower and in less dramatic ways than many boldly forecast. I dive deeper into this below building on an earlier piece on the Future of Search.
The Evolution of Search
The landscape of search is beginning to undergo a shift, with chat-based conversational interfaces gaining ground. As of December 2024, ChatGPT boasts approximately 250 million weekly active users, reflecting its rapid adoption since its November 2022 launch. OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, aims to expand this user base to 1 billion by the end of 2025.
Perplexity AI, a much newer entrant, has seen its monthly active users skyrocket to 10 million in no time. The platform's rise is evident in its visit count, which exploded from 2.2 million in December 2022 to a staggering 45 million just a year later.
However, even with all of this growth, Google’s revenue from Search and its related business units has continued to grow significantly. And from Q1 to Q4, Google's daily search volume grew by 0.7 billion searches, representing significant growth in user engagement. So yes, while ChatGPT has grown and to a lesser extent Perplexity, that growth hasn’t come at a cost to Google engagement or revenue. Here are some of the factors at play in the Search wars:
Google's Measured Approach to AI Integration - Google continues its cautious integration of AI into Search throughout 2024. The tech giant has implemented over 20 technical improvements to its AI Overviews feature, resulting in a 30% reduction in factual errors. Google's prudent stance is reflected in its decision to exclude AI Overviews from hard news topics, now extending to 15% of all search queries
Mixed Reception to Google's AI Overviews - User response to Google's AI Overviews remains divided in 2024. While improvements have led to a 25% increase in user satisfaction, trust issues persist. A 2024 survey revealed that 62% of users find the AI Overviews helpful, but 38% still express skepticism due to past errors. Google's transparency efforts have improved trust by 15% compared to the previous year. However, competitors like Perplexity AI and ChatGPT are gaining ground with features such as source transparency, which provides links to answer sources, building credibility among users. The announcement by ChatGPT CFO Sarah Friar that the platform has no plans to incorporate ads into its search product helps bolster its credibility with users.
A Shifting Landscape for SEO - The SEO world is experiencing its own evolution with strategies beginning to focus on optimizing for AI understanding rather than traditional web crawlers alone. By mid-2024, an impressive 52% of all chats between businesses and consumers involve AI, up from 39% the previous year. Perplexity AI has emerged as a key innovator in this evolution, with its ability to process and analyze uploaded documents and images. The platform's multimodal capabilities have led to a 40% increase in engagement with visual content in search results, making SEO leaders worry about changes effecting the predictability of SEO over the long term. Business hasn’t changed for SEO leaders but it will most likely change in the future.
ChatGPT's Ongoing Challenges - While ChatGPT's user base continues to expand, reaching 250 million active weekly users, the platform grapples with ongoing challenges in accuracy and bias. In 2024, independent audits found that ChatGPT produces hallucinations in 8% of responses and exhibits detectable bias in 12% of outputs related to sensitive topics. These issues have led to a 5% decrease in user trust compared to 2023. Despite these challenges, ChatGPT remains a dominant force in the AI landscape, with 75% of businesses reporting its use in at least one aspect of their operations.
Perplexity's Innovation and the Awareness Gap - Perplexity AI continues to push boundaries in 2024, combining search, shopping, and most recently, checkout functionalities. The platform's recent introduction of a shopping feature for Pro users in the U.S. marks a significant step into e-commerce, directly challenging industry giants. Early reports suggest that Perplexity's one-click checkout system and integration with Shopify sellers have led to a 20% increase in conversion rates for participating merchants. Despite these advancements, Perplexity still faces an awareness gap, with only 15% of internet users familiar with the platform compared to its competitors.
AI Agents: Shaping the Future of Search - AI agents are expected to become the primary interface for information retrieval and task completion. By 2024, 30% of companies have adopted AI agents as one of their customer support channels, surpassing earlier predictions. However, the lack of multicultural understanding in these AI agents remains a significant concern, with a 2024 study revealing that 35% of responses to culturally nuanced queries were inaccurate or insensitive. Will AI Agents replace the Search metaphor and even the more recent Conversation metaphor of the Internet? Probably, but it won’t happen too quickly.
AI Platform Bias: An Insidious Threat - AI bias remains a pervasive and often invisible issue. A recent analysis of over 10,000 AI-generated images revealed alarming statistics: gender stereotypes were present in 78% of professional depictions, while racial biases were evident in 65% of generated scenarios. Text generators like ChatGPT aren't immune either, with a 2024 study showing that 42% of responses to culturally sensitive queries contained detectable biases. These findings underscore the urgent need for diverse input in AI development and rigorous bias mitigation strategies.
Diversity Oversight in AI Development - The oversight of diversity in AI development remains a pressing issue. A survey of leading AI companies found that only 18% have dedicated multicultural teams involved in core AI development processes. This lack of diverse input has led to AI systems that struggle to understand and serve multicultural users effectively, with a 25% lower satisfaction rate among users from underrepresented backgrounds. The exclusion of multicultural marketers from critical AI conversations has resulted in a 30% gap in AI performance when handling queries related to diverse cultural contexts. This oversight not only affects user experience but also perpetuates systemic biases, with potential long-term consequences for AI adoption and effectiveness across diverse global markets.
These trends underscore the significant opportunities—and risks—surrounding the evolution of Search in an AI-driven world. While Search may not be evolving as quickly as some might expect, the marketing industry has a vital responsibility to ensure that AI innovation remains inclusive and representative. The silver lining of this slower pace is that it provides operators with the time needed to tackle key challenges like information accuracy, credibility, trust, and bias on these platforms. As for the question of whether Google will weather the shift to conversational interfaces, for now, they certainly appear to remain firmly in the driver’s seat!
AI Trailblazers Growth Summit!
Excited for the AI Trailblazers Growth Summit tomorrow on December 3rd! It's not too late to register. With a stellar lineup of speakers, hands-on workshops on Agentic AI and driving ROI through AI, plus an exclusive reveal of the top Marketing with AI trends for 2025, this is a must-attend summit for anyone looking to stay ahead. Check out some of the corporate leaders speaking and global brands joining us below.
Register here ➡️ https://lu.ma/ecnlt6ix and email if you have questions.
Alex Craddock, Chief Marketing Officer & Content Officer, Citibank
Amit Shah, CEO, Instalily & Co-Founder AI Trailblazers
Andrea Zaretsky, CMO, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Chris Wiggins, Chief Data Scientist, The New York Times
Greg Kahn, General Partner GK Digital Ventures & Co-Founder AI Trailblazers
Gregory Shove, CEO, Section School & Founder, Machine & Partners
Justin "Hasard" Lee, Decorated fighter pilot & International bestselling author
Helen Lin, Chief Digital Officer, Publicis Groupe
Jay Altschuler, SVP Media & Agency Relations, Mastercard
Joe Benarroch, Head of Content, Media Partnerships, & Distribution, NYSE
Jonathan Roberts, Chief Innovation Officer, Dotdash Meredith
Joe Marchese, General Partner, Human Ventures
Lambert Hogenhout, Chief Data and AI, United Nations
Mark Howard, Chief Operating Officer, Time Inc.
Michael Lacorazza, Chief Marketing Officer, U.S Bank
Michaela A. Ternasky-Holland, Emmy Award-Winning Director
Shiv Singh, Author, Investor, Advisor & Co-Founder AI Trailblazers
Steven Gerber, President & COO, Zeta Global
Wizdom Powell,PhD, MPH, CMHC, Chief Purpose Officer, Headspace
Yang Adija, MBA, SVP, Digital League Business Operations at Turner Sports
Global brands like Amazon, Estée Lauder, Google, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Ralph Lauren, Samsung Electronics, Shiseido, Stagwell, Thomson Reuters, Tik Tok, and Unilever will be represented among many others. With ADWEEK as our media partner and a special AI ROI workshop by Section, this 7th gathering of 2024 is set to not only shape the future of business but to prepare you for it!
AI Trailblazers is is designed to fuel growth, innovation, and career development among its members, who all want to be at the forefront of incorporating AI into their businesses and their lives for strategic advantage.
Where I’ve been
The most recent stop on my book tour was the ANA Multicultural & Diversity Conference in Las Vegas where I had the privilege of speaking to 700 senior marketers in person and another 300 virtually. Special thanks to Bill Duggan, Julie Weitzner, Bernice Veloz and Ana Burgos, MBA for inviting me to speak. And to my friend Matias Perel who introduced me to the wonderful community of Hispanic leaders at the summit.






Next stop? The AI Trailblazers Growth Summit on December 3rd in NYC—mark your calendars and register here: https://lu.ma/ecnlt6ix. Following that, I’ll be doing two Corporate speaking engagements and attending board meetings this December before slowing down for the holidays.
What I’m reading
The AI War Was Never Just About AI (The Atlantic)
Perplexity mulls getting into hardware (Techcrunch)
Klarna’s AI Savings (The Information)
Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says AI will 'shape' identity (MSN)
The State of Enterprise AI (Menlo Ventures)
What Donald Trump’s Win means for AI (Time Magazine)
Recent Savvy AI Articles
Marketing with AI for Dummies launches! (November 2024)
8 Questions that should worry you (June 2024)
The Future of Search (May 2024)
AI Myths vs. Reality: What You Need to Know (May 2024)
Smart Leadership for AI Adoption (April 2024)
How serious are you about AI? (March 2024)