Friday, May 23, 2025
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Hi, it’s Chad. Every Friday, I serve as your AI guide to help you navigate a rapidly evolving landscape, discern signals from noise and transform cutting-edge insights into practical leadership wisdom. This week brought so much important news that I’ve suspended one of our standard sections – Paper Trail – to allow you extra time to focus on Claude’s new model, OpenAI’s acquisition of Jony Ive’s firm in a $6.5B stock deal and Google’s validation of the prediction I made in this newsletter last Friday. (Feels like eons ago, doesn’t it?) Here’s what you need to know:
1. Algorithmic Musings. THE AI SEARCH REVOLUTION: FROM PREDICTION TO REALITY IN FOUR DAYS
Four days after I predicted Google’s search crisis, they launched AI Mode. Here’s what this means for your business.
Last week, I wrote about a seismic shift in the search landscape after Apple’s Eddy Cue testified that Google searches in Safari had declined for the first time in 22 years. I called it an inflection point requiring immediate action.
Four days later, Google unveiled AI Mode.
The speed of Google’s response validates what we predicted. Yet this wasn’t about being right (though I’ll take it). It’s about what this rapid transformation means for every organization that depends on digital discovery. And let’s face it, that’s all of us.
What We Saw Coming
The signals were impossible to ignore: Traffic cannibalization from AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity was already underway. Users were abandoning keyword searches for natural conversations. The 22-year growth streak ending wasn’t a blip. It was the sound of tectonic plates shifting beneath our feet.
Google’s response confirms what we suspected: The paradigm has already shifted. AI Mode transforms search from finding links to having conversations. Users ask complex, multi-part questions and get comprehensive AI-generated responses. It’s exactly the move from “Miami beachside hotel” to “Can you find me a beachside hotel in Miami with vacancy on May 23rd?” that we anticipated.
The question isn’t whether this change was coming – it’s already underway. So what does this mean for you?
3 Immediate Realities Every Organization Must Face
1. Traditional SEO is insufficient
AI systems need different content optimization strategies. The rules you’ve spent years mastering? They’re being rewritten in real-time. Your carefully crafted keyword strategies won’t matter if AI systems can’t find, understand, or recommend your content in natural conversations. Ask yourself: If Google search disappeared tomorrow, how would customers find you?
2. Direct relationships matter more than ever
The reality is that you don’t own your search ranking, but you do own customer relationships. When AI becomes the middleman between you and your customers, the organizations with the strongest direct connections will survive. Everyone else becomes a commodity recommendation. If you take nothing else from this article, take that little nugget to heart.
3. Early movers win big
Companies figuring out AI search optimization now will have significant advantages over those still optimizing for yesterday’s algorithms. This isn’t a gradual transition. It’s a race, and the starting gun has already fired.
Your Monday Morning Action Plan
- Conduct the “AI Search Test.” Search for your company using conversational queries in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Ask “What companies help with [your service] in [your region]?” If you’re not in the top 3 responses, you have work to do.
- Audit your customer acquisition channels. List where your last 20 customers found you. If more than 60% came through Google search, you’re dangerously dependent on a system that’s rapidly changing.
- Create an AI-friendly content strategy. Review your top 10 web pages. Can they answer complete questions, not just provide keywords? AI systems recommend content that directly addresses user intent.
- Build direct relationship channels. Identify three ways customers can connect with you without going through search (email list, LinkedIn, industry partnerships, referral programs).
- Assign ownership. Designate someone to monitor your AI discoverability monthly and report changes to leadership.
What Happens Next?
Google’s $200 billion search business is transforming before our eyes. Whew! AI Mode initially launches without ads (sure it does), but we all know that won’t last. The entire ecosystem of how information flows from publishers to users is being completely rewritten.
The Blockbuster-Netflix analogy I used last week feels even more apt now. Blockbuster saw the threat but couldn’t move fast enough. In our accelerating digital world, the window for adaptation isn’t measured in years… it’s measured in months.
And that window is shrinking.
The Bottom Line
Are you prepared for a world where traditional search disappears overnight? Because that world isn’t coming. It’s already here.
This isn’t about predicting the future anymore. It’s about recognizing the present. The search revolution is happening now. Every day of delay is a day your competitors could be figuring out the new rules while you’re still playing the old game.
The dance in the rain has begun. The only question is: are you still holding an umbrella?
Drop it.
The umbrella won’t help you now. It’s time to learn the steps because the question isn’t whether this change will affect your business. It’s whether you’ll lead the response or follow it.
Want to discuss how to navigate this new search landscape? Let’s schedule a strategic consultation on your AI search readiness to explore strategies for thriving in the AI-first era.
2. Sound Waves: Podcast Highlights
Our latest episode featuring my conversation with Andy Hilliard from Accelerant dropped last week and, if you haven’t tuned in to hear Andy’s thoughts on why Software is a team sport, you’re missing out. As if that’s not enough reason, listeners will also learn why Andy Hilliard believes middle-market companies who focus solely on price rather than relationship-building are missing the true value in offshore development partnerships. Subscribe for free today on your listening platform of choice to ensure you never miss a beat.
New episodes release every two weeks.
3. AI Buzz: Fresh Bytes
This week there are three big pieces of news you need to know as well as several other interesting articles that caught my eye. Check it out.
Major Moves
- OpenAI Buys Jony Ive’s AI Startup to ‘Completely Reimagine What It Means to Use a Computer’. I highly encourage you to invest the 9 minutes and watch the accompanying video conversation between Jony Ive and Sam Altman. This move isn’t just about hardware – it’s about reimagining human-computer interfaces. And when Apple’s former design chief partners with OpenAI, every interaction paradigm is on the table.
- Introducing Claude 4. Anthropic’s latest model represents another leap in AI capability, intensifying competition in the enterprise AI space.
- Google pretends to be in on the joke, but its focus on AI Mode search is serious. For more context, see my above article The AI Search Revolution: From Prediction to Reality in Four Days.
Other News
- A new AI-based weather tool surpasses current forecasts
- FBI warns of ongoing scam that uses deepfake audio to impersonate government officials
- LLMs Aren’t Mirrors, They’re Holograms
- Microsoft and Hugging Face expand collaboration to make open models easy to use on Azure
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As we navigate this unprecedented fusion of human and machine intelligence, remember: the best leaders aren’t just adapting to change – they’re actively shaping it. Until next week, keep pushing boundaries.
Chad