Accelerate Adoption & ROI from Your AI Investments
This talk was a part of ETCIO Annual Conclave 2025, Goa, May 29-June 1
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Mint
16 minutes ago
- Mint
The companies betting they can profit from Google search's demise
A new crop of startups are betting on the rapid demise of traditional Google search. At least a dozen new companies are pouring millions of dollars into software meant to help brands prepare for a world in which customers no longer browse the web and instead rely on ChatGPT, Perplexity and other artificial-intelligence chatbots to do it for them. The startups are developing tools to help businesses understand how AI chatbots gather information and learn how to steer them toward brands so that they appear in AI searches. Call it the search-engine optimization of the next chapter of the internet. 'Companies have been spending the last 10 or 20 years optimizing their website for the '10 blue links' version of Google," said Andrew Yan, co-founder of Athena, one of the startups. 'That version of Google is changing very fast, and it is changing forever." Companies large and small are scrambling to figure out how generative AI tools treat their online content—a boon to this new crop of startups, which say they are adding new customers at a clip. The customer interest is an early sign of how AI is transforming search, and how companies are trying to get ahead of the changes. Yan left Google's search team earlier this year when he decided traditional search wasn't the future. Athena launched last month with $2.2 million in funding from startup accelerator Y Combinator and other venture firms. Athena's software looks under the hood of different AI models to determine how each of them finds brand-related information. The software can track differences in the way the models talk about a given brand and recommend ways to optimize web content for AI. Yan said the company now has more than 100 customers around the world, including the online-invitation firm Paperless Post. Google executives and analysts don't expect traditional search to disappear. The company, which handles as much as 90% of the world's online searches, has been working to incorporate AI features into its flagship search engine and anticipates people will continue to use it alongside other tools such as Gemini, its AI model and chatbot. Yet the company, a unit of Alphabet, has been under pressure to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI upstarts that threaten its core business. It risks losing traffic and advertising revenue if users shift to AI-driven alternatives. Chief Executive Sundar Pichai has said that AI Overviews, a feature that summarizes search results at the top of the page, has grown significantly in usage since the company launched it in 2024. Google earlier this year began rolling out AI Mode, which responds to user queries in a chatbot-style conversation with far fewer links than a traditional search. Compared with traditional search, chatbot queries are often longer and more complicated, requiring chatbots to draw information from multiple sources at once and aggregate it for the user. AI models search in a number of ways: One platform might pull information from a company website, while another might rely more heavily on third-party content such as review sites. Of the startups helping companies navigate that complexity, Profound has raised more than $20 million from venture-capital firms including Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures. The company is building its platform to monitor and analyze the many inputs that influence how AI chatbots relay brand-related information to users. Since launching last year, Profound has amassed dozens of large companies as customers, including fintech company Chime, the company said. 'We see a future of a zero-click internet where consumers only interact with interfaces like ChatGPT, and agents or bots will become the primary visitors to websites," said co-founder James Cadwallader. Venture-capital fund Saga Ventures was one of the first investors in Profound. Saga co-founder Max Altman, whose brother is OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, said interest in the startup's platform has exceeded his expectations. 'Just showing how brands are doing is extremely valuable for marketers, even more than we thought," he said. 'They're really flying completely blind." Saga estimates that Profound's competitors have together raised about $21 million, though some haven't disclosed funding. The value of such companies is still infinitesimal compared with that of the search-engine optimization industry, which helps brands appear in traditional searches and was estimated at roughly $90 billion last year. SEO consultant Cyrus Shepard said he did almost no work on AI visibility at the start of the year, but now it accounts for 10% to 15% of his time. By the end of the year, he expects it might account for as much as half. He has been experimenting with startup platforms promising AI search insights, but hasn't yet determined whether they will offer helpful advice on how to become more visible in AI searches, particularly as the models continue to change. 'I would classify them all as in beta," he said. Clerk, a company selling technology for software developers, has been working with startup Scrunch AI to analyze AI search traffic. Alex Rapp, Clerk's head of growth marketing, said that between January and June, the company saw a 9% increase in sign-ups for its platform coming from AI searches. Scrunch this year raised $4 million. It has more than 25 other customers and is working on a feature to help companies tailor the content, format and context of their websites for consumption by AI bots. 'Your website doesn't need to go away," co-founder Chris Andrew said. 'But 90% of its human traffic will." Write to Katherine Blunt at
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Foxconn second quarter revenue rises 15.82% on year
Taiwan's Foxconn , the world's largest contract electronics maker, reported record second-quarter revenue on strong demand for artificial intelligence products but cautioned about geopolitical and exchange rate headwinds. Revenue for Apple 's biggest iPhone assembler jumped 15.82% year-on-year to T$1.797 trillion, Foxconn said in a statement on Saturday, beating the T$1.7896 trillion LSEG SmartEstimate, which gives greater weight to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. Robust AI demand led to strong revenue growth for its cloud and networking products division, said Foxconn, whose customers include AI chip firm Nvidia. Smart consumer electronics, which includes iPhones, posted 'flattish' year-on-year revenue growth affected by exchange rates, it said. June revenue roses 10.09% on year to T$540.237 billion, a record high for that month. Foxconn said it anticipates growth in this quarter from the previous three months and from the same period last year but cautioned about potential risks to growth. "The impact of evolving global political and economic conditions and exchange rate changes will need continued close monitoring," it said without elaborating. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had signed letters to 12 countries outlining the various tariff levels they would face on goods they export to the United States, with the "take it or leave it" offers to be sent out on Monday. The Chinese city of Zhengzhou is home to the world's largest iPhone manufacturing facility, operated by Foxconn. The company, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry, does not provide numerical forecasts. It will report full second quarter earnings on August 14. Foxconn's shares jumped 76% last year, far outperforming the 28.5% rise for the Taiwan market, but are down 12.5% so far this year, reflecting broader pressure on tech stocks rattled by Trump's tumultuous trade policy. The stock closed down 1.83% on Friday ahead of the revenue data release, compared with a 0.73% drop for the benchmark index.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Gold price prediction: Yellow metal may hit Rs 1 lakh in second half; driven by investment related demand
Local gold prices in India are expected to remain firm in the second half of 2025, with a possible rise towards the psychological Rs 1,00,000 mark per 10 grams, according to a report by ICICI Bank Global Markets. Currently, the yellow metal is hovering in the Rs 96,500–Rs 98,500 range. 'Local gold prices are expected to continue trading with an upside bias moving from a near-term range of Rs 96,500 to Rs 98,500 per ten grams to Rs 98,500 per ten grams to the Rs 100,000 per ten grams range in H22025,' the report said, quoted by ANI. Despite a drop in global prices recently, domestic gold prices rose by 0.6% in June, helped by a slight 0.2% weakening of the Rupee. However, high gold prices appear to be dampening physical demand. Imports in May dropped to $2.5 billion from $3.1 billion in April. Jewellery demand remained weak, while investment-related buying stayed strong. In fact, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed a net inflow of Rs 2.92 billion into gold ETFs in May, bouncing back after two straight months of outflows. Globally too, investor interest in gold has remained strong. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Khám phá nhà tiền chế giá rẻ tại Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh Nomad's Notebook Nhấp vào đây Undo The SPDR Gold ETF holdings rose from 930 tonnes on 1st June to 948 tonnes on 1st July. Speculative net long positions also increased by around 13,000 lots last month. Still, gold's sharp rally has cooled off lately. Prices have stayed flat over the past month as safe-haven buying eased. Year-to-date, gold is still up 28% in 2025. One key reason for this pause is the improved global outlook. A ceasefire between Israel and Iran has calmed geopolitical tensions. At the same time, the US has struck trade deals with the UK and Vietnam, and is making progress with Japan, India and the EU. A trade framework with China is also in place and expected to be finalised by August. 'The upshot is that the easing in geopolitical tensions and expectations that trade-war 2.0 could ease in magnitude have worked to limit further sharp upside emerging in gold prices,' the report added. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
