DiscoverAI InsideIs AI Search Hurting The Open Web? With Google's Nick Fox
Is AI Search Hurting The Open Web? With Google's Nick Fox

Is AI Search Hurting The Open Web? With Google's Nick Fox

Update: 2025-12-15
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This episode is sponsored by Your360 AI. Get 10% off through January 2026 at https://Your360.ai with code: INSIDE.



Nick Fox is the SVP of Knowledge and Information at Google, overseeing Search, Ads, and Commerce. He returns to the AI Inside podcast seven months after our Google I/O conversation when he declared "the web is thriving." In this follow-up, we press Fox on the publisher traffic debate, whether Google will ever embrace a licensing model for news, and why the Personal Context feature announced at I/O is still delayed. We also cover AI Mode's growth to 75 million daily users, why emerging markets are adopting it faster than expected, and what Google has learned about changing search behavior.


Note: Time codes subject to change depending on dynamic ad insertion by the distributor.




CHAPTERS:


00:00:00 - Podcast begins


00:00:41 - Introducing Nick Fox, Google's SVP of Knowledge and Information


00:03:29 - Revisiting "The Web Is Thriving" Claim Seven Months Later


00:05:09 - Publisher Traffic Concerns and Trust in Google's Data


00:08:30 - Preferred Sources: New Feature to Boost Publisher Visibility


00:09:58 - AI Links vs. Traditional Blue Links: Quality and Purpose


00:12:57 - Jeff's Case for News APIs: Should Publishers Embrace AI?


00:16:01 - Google's Response to the News API Proposal


00:17:31 - 3,000+ Publisher Partnerships and the Traffic-First Model


00:21:53 - Advice for Publishers Wanting to Rank in AI Search


00:24:07 - AI Mode Adoption: What Seven Months of User Data Reveals


00:27:07 - Longer Queries, Deeper Exploration: How Users Are Changing


00:29:06 - Global Rollout Insights: US, India, Brazil, and Emerging Markets


00:29:28 - The Learning Curve: Why AI Search Takes Months to Adopt


00:31:11 - Younger Users Leading AI Mode Adoption


00:31:59 - "Catch Me Up" Feature: Embedding AI in New Places


00:34:17 - AI Mode Everywhere: Chrome, Workspace, and Jeff's Chromebook Plea


00:37:50 - Personal Context Update: What's Delaying the Gmail/Drive Integration


00:40:07 - Gemini 3 Pro in Search: Generative UIs and Intelligent Routing


00:43:23 - Google's AI Brand Strategy: Search, Gemini App, and Beyond


00:46:23 - If You Were Starting a Content Business Today


00:48:16 - Thank you to Nick Fox for joining the AI Inside podcast

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Is AI Search Hurting The Open Web? With Google's Nick Fox

Is AI Search Hurting The Open Web? With Google's Nick Fox

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