Overview

• Google began testing AI Mode in March, launched it for all U.S. users on May 20 and integrated ads on May 29
• Ads in AI Mode provide product recommendations with detailed options and direct purchase links, underscoring Google’s push to monetize AI-powered answers
• AI Mode condenses sources into a sidebar and omits many publisher links from the main response, reducing visibility for original reporting
• Publishers cannot opt out of AI Mode without removing their sites from Google Search, effectively forcing participation
• Google CEO Sundar Pichai maintains that AI Mode drives “higher-quality” referral traffic to a wider range of sources but has not released supporting data