Views: 38
Two years ago, I said that ChatGPT should be seen as a “Red Alert : This is Not A Drill” type of moment. While I still feel that was correct, I also knew that you don’t extract the Google whale from the kiddie pool of the web easily. It was obvious that Google was going to fight tooth-n-nail – even if it meant putting glue on pizza.
That said, we learned yesterday that the SE monopoly may finally be cracking just a bit – and AI is holding the sledge hammer.
In what should be described as bombshell testimony this week, Apple’s Eddy Cue told a federal court that web searches via Safari declined for the first time ever in April 2025. His explanation? People are turning to AI instead.
Cue didn’t mince words: AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Anthropic are pulling users away from traditional SEs. Google, which pays Apple a reported $20 billion a year to remain the default on Safari, saw its stock tank 7% following Cue’s statement – taking a $100 billion market cap hit in a single day. For webmasters, this trend makes it critical to monitor traffic from ChatGPT and similar AI platforms to understand how these new tools are affecting site visitors. Expect Google to lean more on behavioral signals like those used in NavBoost to judge content quality as AI takes over more casual queries.
That kind of big market movement signals a deeper realization than just courtroom bravado. It suggests investors are starting to listen and believe what SEOs and AI-watchers have been whispering since ChatGPT broke free two years ago: AI is eating search.
The Context
Ever since ChatGPT exploded in late 2022, there’s been a lingering question: What happens if people stop Googling and start prompting?
Google’s answer was to first realize it was flat footed, pivot fast and integrate Gemini (formerly Bard. lol) on to the Serps in what it calls “AI Overviews.” (or as the Internet calls it, AI Slop)
But Cue’s testimony throws cold water on Google’s ongoing and shifting narrative. Despite Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s recent claim that AI Overviews are somehow boosting engagement (while providing zero evidence to support that self-serving claim), Apple’s internal data tells a radically different story – one where users are beginning to shift away from Google in significant and noticeable quantities..
Apple Hints at the Future
Cue made it clear that Apple won’t be standing still waiting for Google to figure it out. He said AI search engines will be added as alternative options in Safari, though they likely won’t be the default – at least not yet. What that looks like in practice will be an ongoing mystery. In other words, Apple is leaving the door open for the new AI challengers ChatGPT and Anthropic.
Google’s Response: Deny, Defend, and Depose
Google quickly pushed back, releasing a statement denying Apples statement and insisting that search queries are still growing – including from Apple devices. But Wall Street wasn’t buying it. The stock selloff reflects a serious anxiety about search: If users are drifting toward AI for answers, Google’s entire business model is at risk.
Is the Business Model of the Web Breaking?
This moment fits right into the bigger picture outlined earlier this week by Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince. In a widely discussed talk at the Council on Foreign Relations, Prince warned that AI isn’t just disrupting search – it’s actively breaking the internet’s economic business engine. His numbers were staggering: where Google once sent back one visitor for every two pages scraped, that ratio is now 250 to 1 — or worse — when AI is involved.
If Cue’s testimony is a light bulb, Prince’s interview is the five-alarm fire: the old value exchange between content creators and search engines is collapsing. AI doesn’t send traffic. It consumes content and answers the query – often without attribution or a single click. Creators get cut out entirely.
The Apple data tells us user behavior is changing. The Cloudflare data shows the business model can’t keep up.
Google made search a verb. AI might make it obsolete.
As the CEO and founder of Pubcon Inc., Brett Tabke has been instrumental in shaping the landscape of online marketing and search engine optimization. His journey in the computer industry has spanned over three decades and has made him a pioneering force behind digital evolution. Full Bio
Visit Pubcon.com