We might call the fortunes of Google search in the early artificial intelligence era as a “great reversal.”
For much of two years, it seems, investors have asked a key question: what happens to Google search if users start asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or other AI assistants instead of typing queries into a traditional search bar?
“Shoot first, ask questions later” seems to have been an initial kneejerk reaction.
But reality seemingly has moved in the opposite direction.
In the first quarter of 2026, “Search and Other” revenue rose by 19.1 percent compared to the first quarter of 2025. Even more encouragingly, search growth accelerated for the fifth consecutive quarter.
For Alphabet, the debate is no longer only about whether AI will disrupt Search. It is now about whether Alphabet can use AI to protect Search, grow cloud offerings, increase monetization capabilities.
This might alert us to the fact that our expectations about AI impact can be, not only wrong, but completely wrong.
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