Publication Date: 05.11.2025
Author: Holger Schmidt (FAZ)
Source: FAZ Pro - Digital Economy
Publication Date: 05.11.2025
Summary Reading Time: 3 minutes
Executive Summary
Google has successfully completed the risky transition from link-based to AI-powered search answers and paradoxically achieved higher revenues despite showing fewer links. The company solved the classic innovator's dilemma through "open-heart surgery" – the radical transformation of its own highly profitable business model before it could be threatened by external AI competition. The collateral damage to publishers and the open web is deliberately accepted, raising fundamental questions about the future of digital information ecosystems.
Critical Key Questions
Monopoly through innovation or market abuse? Is Google using its dominant position to exclude competitors, or does innovation success legitimize market concentration?
Who bears responsibility for the open web? If AI answers marginalize publishers – who ensures long-term information diversity and journalistic quality?
Transparency vs. trade secrets: Should algorithms that control the information behavior of billions of people be subject to public oversight and regulation?
Scenario Analysis: Future Perspectives
Short-term (1 year):
Publishers and content creators will increasingly fight for direct user relationships, while Google continues to optimize its AI integration. First regulatory responses to the changed information landscape are to be expected.
Medium-term (5 years):
New business models for content providers emerge, possibly through AI licensing or alternative search engines. Information quality could suffer if original publishers are no longer adequately monetized.
Long-term (10-20 years):
The open web could undergo fundamental change – away from linked content toward AI-curated information bubbles. This poses risks for democratic opinion formation and information diversity, but also opportunities for more personalized, efficient knowledge transfer.
Main Summary
Core Topic & Context
Google has successfully transitioned from traditional link-based search to AI-powered answers. This strategic transformation demonstrates how technology companies can solve the "innovator's dilemma" – the danger of self-cannibalizing profitable business models – through proactive disruption.
Most Important Facts & Numbers
- AI answers generate higher revenues than classic search engines with paid links
- Fewer displayed links, but more user interactions through more intensive and longer search sessions
- More queries per user through improved AI functionalities
- Additional advertising opportunities arise from extended dwell time
- Collateral damage to publishers is deliberately accepted [⚠️ Extent of revenue losses to be verified]
Stakeholders & Affected Parties
Winners: Google shareholders, users (more efficient answers), AI technology providers
Losers: Publishers, news media, content creators, alternative search engines
Regulators: Face the challenge of balancing innovation and competition
Opportunities & Risks
Opportunities: More efficient information access, new AI-based business models, accelerated digitalization
Risks: Monopolization of information distribution, quality loss in original content, endangerment of journalistic diversity, dependence on a single AI provider
Action Relevance
Companies and publishers must develop alternative monetization strategies and strengthen direct customer relationships. Regulators should critically monitor market concentration in the information sector. Investors can view Google's successful AI transformation as a blueprint for other technology disruptions.
Bibliography
Primary Source:
How Google Solved the Innovator's Dilemma – FAZ Pro Digital Economy
Verification Status: ⚠️ Supplementary sources on publisher revenue losses and regulatory reactions recommended