How Google’s A.I. Search May Kill News Dead

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Jul 21, 2025

Ben Smith, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief at Semafor, dives deep into how Google's AI search is reshaping the news landscape. He discusses how users are now receiving AI-generated answers, potentially sidelining traditional news sites. The shift to 'Google Zero' is causing major traffic declines for publishers, especially smaller ones. Smith emphasizes the challenges for journalism as authenticity and connection face pressures from efficiency-driven AI. As the future of news hangs in the balance, the conversation underscores the need for a balance between technology and quality reporting.

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INSIGHT

Google's AI Kills Referral Traffic

Google is shifting from sending traffic to websites to providing AI-generated answers directly on its search page.
This change drastically reduces referral traffic to news publishers, threatening their business models.

INSIGHT

Understanding "Google Zero"

"Google Zero" means publishers get zero traffic from Google as users get AI answers instead of website links.
This signals a fundamental collapse of the traditional web as we know it.

INSIGHT

Search Favored Service Journalism

Search engines favored service journalism and known information rather than investigative, surprising journalism.
AI now replaces even that service type, signaling a shift, not an apocalypse, in journalism business models.

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It’s now common to get AI generated answers from Google when searching the web. The whole concept of searching Google to find actual websites is almost over.

Google does not want you to click on a link and go to a website. Instead, they're giving users as the first thing you see, an AI overview that analyzes hundreds, thousands, (possibly) millions of websites to give you an answer right there on the Google page. Convenient? Yes. User friendly? Yup. Causing news publishers to lose their minds? Absofrigginlutely.

Today our guest is Ben Smith. He literally wrote the book on web traffic. It's called Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion Dollar Race to Go Viral.

He's the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief at Semafor and co-host of the Mixed Signals podcast.

Ben helps us figure out what this fundamental change in how we use the web means for you the news consumer and what it could mean for the future of Canadaland.

Credits:

Host: Jesse Brown

Caleb Thompson (Post Production), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

Fact checking by Julian Abraham

Additional music by Audio Network