Google母公司 Alphabet 最新公布的第三季度财报显示，在人工智能技术推动下，Google搜索业务迎来了近五年来最快的查询增长速度。然而，尽管用户使用量持续攀升，搜索业务收入增速却有所放缓，这让投资者开始重新审视Google AI战略的商业前景。
Alphabet 首席执行官桑达尔·皮查伊在财报电话会议上表示，公司的人工智能投入正在有效推动搜索业务发展，包括商业搜索在内的整体搜索查询量均出现明显增长。他指出，Google当前的搜索查询同比增速已经达到过去五年中的最高水平。
财报数据显示，Google搜索及其他相关业务第三季度收入同比增长12%。虽然这一数字依然保持增长，但相比上一季度约17%的增速有所回落。与此同时，作为Google广告业务核心指标之一的付费广告点击量增速也由上一季度的13%下降至8%。
这一情况引发了资本市场关注。由于Alphabet正计划在今年投入约2000亿美元用于基础设施建设，其中大部分将用于支撑人工智能业务发展，因此投资者更加关注这些巨额投入何时能够转化为相应回报。
Google首席商务官菲利普·辛德勒解释称，汇率因素以及部分行业广告主支出调整是收入增长放缓的重要原因之一。不过他同时承认，AI搜索产品的发展也带来了新的影响。
根据Google披露的信息，AI Mode的使用量正在快速增长，但其商业化效率目前仍低于传统搜索模式。换句话说，虽然越来越多用户开始通过AI方式获取信息，但这些查询暂时还无法像传统搜索那样产生同等水平的广告收入。
过去一年中，Google持续将生成式人工智能融入搜索体验。其中，AI Overviews 会在搜索结果页面顶部自动生成内容摘要，而 AI Mode 则将传统搜索进一步转变为类似聊天机器人的互动体验，允许用户围绕同一主题持续开展多轮对话。
Google方面认为，这些AI功能并没有替代原本的搜索需求，而是在创造新的搜索场景。辛德勒表示，公司观察到的大多数 AI Mode 查询属于“增量查询”，即用户会提出原本不会搜索的新问题，从而带来额外的搜索活动。
不过，行业分析人士指出，人工智能正在改变用户获取信息的方式，而这种变化最终可能影响Google长期依赖的广告商业模式。
市场研究机构 eMarketer 分析师内特·艾略特表示，这是Google数十年来首次面对可能冲击其核心业务模式的重大转型。过去，用户通常会通过搜索结果点击网站和广告，而生成式AI能够直接生成答案，这种模式是否会削弱广告价值，仍有待观察。
数字营销机构 Tinuiti 的研究主管安迪·泰勒则认为，不同搜索场景受到的影响并不相同。如果用户只是希望了解一个问题的答案，AI生成内容可能已经足够；但当用户带着明确购物需求搜索某款商品时，传统广告和购物展示仍然具有明显优势。
面对盈利挑战，Google已经开始尝试在 AI Mode 与 AI Overviews 中测试新型广告形式。公司表示相关实验结果令人鼓舞，并计划逐步扩大广告覆盖范围。不过，Google尚未公开说明这些新广告未来是否能够达到传统搜索广告的盈利水平。
事实上，自ChatGPT掀起生成式人工智能浪潮以来，外界一直担心AI聊天助手可能会削弱传统搜索引擎的重要性。如今，Google不仅需要应对来自OpenAI、Anthropic等竞争对手的挑战，还需要证明自己能够在AI时代继续维持搜索业务的强大盈利能力。
皮查伊对此表示，当前公司的首要目标仍然是打造最佳搜索体验，而商业化将按照既定节奏逐步推进。他将这一阶段与Google十多年前从桌面互联网向移动互联网转型的过程进行了类比。
从整体业务表现来看，人工智能已经成功带动Google搜索使用量创下近年来新高。但对于华尔街而言，更重要的问题仍然悬而未决：Google是否能够让AI搜索最终成长为一个与传统搜索同样强大的利润引擎。
随着AI功能不断深入整合进搜索产品，Google正在经历自搜索引擎诞生以来最重要的一次商业模式转型。而这场转型究竟会进一步巩固其互联网霸主地位，还是对其核心广告业务构成长期挑战，未来几个季度的表现或许将给出答案。
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The latest third-quarter financial report by Google parent, Alphabet, shows that Google's search operation has been at its fastest pace in almost five years, driven by artificial intelligence technology. However, while user usage continues to climb, the growth in income from search operations has slowed, prompting investors to revisit the business prospects of the Google AI strategy.
In a teleconference on the financial paper, Executive Director Alphabet Sandal Pichai stated that the company ' s artificial intelligence input was effectively driving the development of search operations and that there had been a marked increase in the overall search search search search volume, including commercial searches. He noted that Google ' s current search queries were increasing at the same rate as in the past five years.
Financial data show that Google ' s income from search and other related operations increased by 12 per cent in the third quarter of the year. While this number has remained on the rise, the rate of increase has declined from about 17 per cent in the previous quarter. At the same time, paid advertising hits, one of the core indicators of Google advertising operations, fell from 13 per cent in the previous quarter to 8 per cent.
This has drawn attention to capital markets. Since Alphabet is planning to invest about $200 billion in infrastructure this year, most of which will support artificial intelligence business development, investors are paying more attention to when these huge investments will translate into corresponding returns.
Philippe Cinderel, Chief Commercial Officer of Google, explained that exchange rate factors, as well as the adjustment of the head of advertising in some sectors, were one of the major reasons for the slowdown in income growth. At the same time, however, he acknowledged that the development of the AI search product also had new implications.
According to Google, the use of AI Mode is growing rapidly, but its commercialization is still less efficient than traditional search patterns. In other words, while more and more users are beginning to access information through AI, these queries are not yet generating the same level of advertising income as traditional searches.
Over the past year, Google has continuously integrated the generation of artificial intelligence into the search experience. Among them, AI Overviews automatically generates content summary at the top of the search result page, while AI Mode further transforms traditional searches into interactive experiences like chat robots, allowing users to engage in multiple rounds of dialogue around the same subject.
Google, for its part, is of the view that these AI features do not replace the original search needs but are creating new search scenarios. Schindler states that most of the AI Mode queries observed by the company are “incremental queries” where users raise new questions that would not otherwise be searched, thus creating additional search activities.
However, industry analysts point out that artificial intelligence is changing the way users access information and that this change may eventually affect the advertising business model on which Google has long relied.
According to Nate Elliott, an eMarketer analyst, the market research institute, this was the first time in decades that Google faced a major transformation that could impact its core business model. In the past, users usually clicked on websites and advertisements through search results, and it remains to be seen whether the generation of AI directly generates answers, a model that reduces the value of advertising.
Andy Taylor, research director of the digital marketing agency Tinuti, argued that different search scenarios were affected differently. If the user simply wants to know the answer to a question, the AI generation content may be sufficient; however, traditional advertising and shopping displays still have a clear advantage when users search for a commodity with a clear need for shopping.
In the face of the profit challenge, Google has started trying to test new forms of advertising in AI Mode and AI Overviews. The company indicated that the results of the experiments were encouraging and that it planned to gradually expand advertising coverage. However, Google has yet to publicly indicate whether these new advertisements will be profitable in the future in terms of traditional search advertising.
In fact, since ChatGPT started the generation of artificial intelligence, there have been concerns that AI chat assistants might weaken the importance of traditional search engines. Today, Google needs to meet not only the challenges from competitors like Open AI and Anthropic, but also to prove that it is able to sustain the strong profitability of search operations in the AI era.
In response, Pichai stated that the primary objective of the current company remained to build the best search experience, while commercialization would progress at the established pace. He compared this phase with Google ' s transition from desktop to mobile Internet more than a decade ago.
In terms of overall business performance, artificial intelligence has successfully driven Google search usage to new levels in recent years. But for Wall Street, the more important question remains: whether Google can finally make AI a profit engine as powerful as traditional search.
As AI functions are increasingly integrated into search products, Google is undergoing the most important business model shift since the launch of the search engine. Whether the transition will further entrench its Internet dominance or pose a long-term challenge to its core advertising operations, the performance of the next few quarters may answer.
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