Google CEO muses about the future of search

The commercial potential of large language models and LLM search, and the future of link-based search

When asked whether link-based search - the dominant way people access information on the internet today - will change a decade from now, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told The Wall Street Journal that “the experience will evolve substantively over the next decade.”

Key takeaways

• Sundar Pichai said it's important to understand what users try to accomplish in a search and online. “We work back from that at any given moment like we've always done,” he said;
• Large language models (LLMs) and chatbots like Bard will change search in the next decade. It’s difficult to predict whether or not this means the end to link-based search, but the focus really is on trying to understanding what users want and helping them accomplish it, he said;
• He declining to provide many specific details, but said Google developers are testing a variety of approaches.

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