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Google is about to take a big step in the way its search engine is accessed by billions of individuals, a move that publishers are apprehensive could cause their already declining traffic to drop significantly. Executives verified that a new interactive search experience called AI Mode will soon be the default mode. Such a shift poses a risk to the appearance of original news content because even the Google-generated summaries are taken in place of actual clicks to other websites. The move can hasten a crisis in the industry among the publishers who rely on search referrals.
Google affirms the deployment of the AI mode
Robby Stein, the Vice President of Search Product at Google, revealed on X that now, at the bottom of the google.com/ai, users can open AI Mode. A few minutes later, Logan Kilpatrick, the manager of DeepMind, the AI products of Google, affirmed in a reply that AI Mode will turn into the default in the near future. His comment implied that the feature was not a test but a change in the form of a core change to Google Search.
Even the present AI Overviews feature has already changed the behaviour of users, making AI-generated summaries above links to websites. According to industry observers, AI Mode goes a step further to transform searches in a chat-like format where links appear on the margins. The editors caution that, with AI Mode taking over search, fewer people will even bother to go through news articles.
Effects on News Drop Traffic
Google has already faced a drastic drop in traffic because of the introduction of AI-driven summaries by the news organisations. As data provided by Similarweb shows, the search traffic of Business Insider declined by 55 per cent from April 2022 to April 2025, and HuffPost experienced a decline of over 50 per cent. Another research study conducted by Digital Content Next, which represents such websites as the New York Times, Condé Nast, and Vox, has documented referral traffic drops up to 25 per cent over eight weeks in May and June.
good idea. I've felt the same way. you can now get to ai mode by heading straight to https://t.co/Q75S7fHStY https://t.co/z0m6fCyyLL
— Robby Stein (@rmstein) September 5, 2025
Several sources report that readers tend to have their queries answered on the Google site alone without having to move on to other websites. Publishers have termed the trend as moving towards Google Zero, a situation where the search giant offers it all to the users so that they no longer need to access the original sites.
Google AI Highjacking publishers
In AI Mode, the search experience is changed and is no longer query and click, but a back-and-forth dialogue with the Google system. Original content links are positioned on the right side of the page, which lowers the interaction rates and visibility. Analysts contend that this arrangement puts the priority on Google AI output and then disregards the very publishers who provide the content on which those summaries are based.
The critics refer to the method as a condensed version of the internet (CliffsNotes). The publishers, in turn, have to struggle with the issue that they have to compete with the platform that summarises and aggregates their work.
Digital Journalism has an Uncertain Future.
The change poses a burning issue concerning the sustainability of digital journalism. Although licensing transactions and subscription systems have been perceived as potential options, analysts warn that such measures are still incapable of compensating for the high losses incurred in search-based traffic. The smaller publishers are supposed to be hit when it comes to the sharpest impact, and even the established outlets are under pressure.
The government of the US has already charged Google with a monopoly, and this new development is likely to increase scrutiny. Publishers are now alarmed about the besieging, not merely straining, position of the traditional news model as AI Mode is about to become the default entrance gate of billions of users.
