Google rolled out AI overviews across the United States this month, exposing its flagship product to the hallucinations of large language models.

Google rolled out AI overviews across the United States this month, exposing its flagship product to the hallucinations of large language models.

  • habanhero@lemmy.caEnglish
    1315·
    7 months ago

    I get your point but from a business perspective Google is doing pretty well (see last quarterly earning and they announced dividends for the first time). It’s good to be a shareholder and from that perspective the CEO is doing a good job.

    Time and time again markets have shown, within reason, poor user experience and anti-consumer policies do not negatively impact stock price.

    • 1984@lemmy.todayEnglish
      241·
      7 months ago

      Well not when it’s a company that people can’t get away from. Big tech is so big and there are so few alternatives that they can treat people how they like.

      We are living in the mega corp world now where they have more money than countries.

      Money is power to make the rules what you want.

      • habanhero@lemmy.caEnglish
        9·
        7 months ago

        Yes, again I’m not saying that’s how it should be, I’m saying what is.

        Enshittification won’t be a thing if actual user experience matters as much as we like it to in business.

    • exanime@lemmy.todayEnglish
      221·
      7 months ago

      It’s relatively easy to squeeze a profit boost by sacrificing long term vision… Last quarter will mean nothing if Google is knocked from its pedestal in a year or two (which is what the current trend looks to be pointing to)

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
        34·
        7 months ago

        Yeah I want evidence for this. Please show me something that is even approaching the power of AdSense. Then do it for everything else they own. YouTube, Google maps, gmail, Android, the play store, etc.

        It’s this weird thing I see on lemmy “well I stopped using a product therefore it is dead”. News flash: Big Bang Theory ran for 12 seasons and Meta has a capitalization over half the countries of earth GDP.

        Problems don’t go away because you have decided to ignore them.

        • exanime@lemmy.todayEnglish
          3·
          7 months ago

          What you are stating is nowhere near the point I was trying to make.

          We have seen a million times how a company can be destroyed for short term gains… Most recent public example is red lobster

          I have no clue if this is what’s going to happen to google… But my point was that have a good last quarter (the one associated with the new head of Search) is not an indication that his strategies will pan out … In fact, everything he touched before went the same way, short term profit, long term demise

        • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          7 months ago

          Seriously, most of the internet still uses that ban happy nonsense that is Reddit. I hate being referred then when I have problems, m,y account was perma-suspended over bullshit!

        • habanhero@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          7 months ago

          To be brutally honest, many times I see Reddit / Lemmy proclaim, “Product X is dead because it did Y” - these claims are usually followed by surges in revenue / stock performance by said company and soon no one really talks much about it. Example - Netflix Password crackdown.

        • mint_tamas@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          7 months ago

          FWIW they are cannibalizing ads right now with AI summaries, since people will navigate less to websites (in the world where they are useful, which they don’t seem to be at the moment).

      • habanhero@lemmy.caEnglish
        7·
        7 months ago

        Sure but Google Search has been crappy for many quarters.

        I’m not saying thats how it should be, I’m just pointing out what is.