A year after introducing generative AI search responses with the AI Overviews feature, Google has announced a new feature that it believes will elevate its AI integration to the next level. And some critics worry the introduction of these new features could signal the end for the larger ecosystem of publishers and websites that rely on the search giant for traffic.

Google continues its march
After a bumpy rollout of AI Overviews, Google made it clear it's still betting on AI as the future of internet search by taking it a step further. The company recently introduced the next phase of AI search tools, featuring AI Mode, which will function like a chatbot to answer users' queries. It's a "total reimagining of search," said Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a press briefing. 

With the introduction of AI Mode, Google is "essentially trying to disrupt its traditional search business before upstart AI competitors can disrupt it," said The New York Times. The "search giant" has been wary of the possibility since "declaring a 'code red' two years ago after the arrival of ChatGPT." The turn toward AI also comes amid "mounting antitrust pressures to break up Google's business." 

Google is "rallying its formidable AI efforts" by "releasing a slew of innovations," then "integrating them into products at a breathtaking pace," said Venture Beat. The company has also "laid out a bolder ambition: an operating system for the AI age." 

'Burying the web'
From early tests, AI Mode has "crystallized something about Google's priorities and in particular its relationship to the web," said John Herrman at Intelligencer. AI Overviews already "demoted links" by summarizing a website's contents for "digestion without clicking." Now, AI Mode invites you to "explore and expand on those summaries by asking more questions, rather than clicking out." Google has signaled it will do "anything to win the AI race," said Herrman. "If that means burying the web, then so be it."

Publishers remain unswayed by the company's reassurances that such moves won't inhibit the open web. Links were the "last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue," said Danielle Coffey, the CEO and president of News/Media Alliance, in a statement. Now Google "takes content by force and uses it with no return — the definition of theft."

The explosive growth of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service means he "could end up with more power over the human exchange of information than any previous person has ever enjoyed," said The Atlantic. And with that comes "unprecedented geopolitical leverage for a private citizen." 

What's Starlink? 
Starlink was launched in 2019, with a stated mission to "connect the globe with reliable and affordable high-speed broadband services." Its progression toward that goal has been rapid, with a huge uptake in countries and areas where traditional internet has been patchy or nonexistent. The 7,000 or so satellites orbiting Earth as part of Elon Musk's Starlink network make up nearly two-thirds of the entire network of active satellites, with thousands more planned for launch in the coming years. 

What's happened since Trump took office? 
There have been numerous reports already of Musk using his access to President Donald Trump to gain advantages for Starlink. Leading Democrat senators complained in March about reports that Starlink was in line to take over a billion-dollar air-traffic control contract from Verizon, although this has yet to happen, said The Independent.

Musk's connections to the Trump administration have also reportedly put pressure on countries that have been hesitant in approving licences for Starlink. A ProPublica investigation, for example, found evidence of a "veiled threat" by U.S. officials in The Gambia that infrastructure money would be withheld if Starlink did not secure regulatory approval there.

How's Starlink affecting politics? 
There are signs that the "global wall of resistance" to Starlink is beginning to fall apart, said Bloomberg. In Gaza last year, Starlink was able to provide service to a UAE-built hospital, with Israeli approval. Musk is the only internet provider operational in the area. 

Ukrainian forces have become reliant on Starlink, but they, too, are at the "mercy of the entrepreneur," said Politico. Musk refused, for instance, to switch on the service over Russian-occupied Crimea for a drone attack by Ukraine on Russian ships. Access to Starlink was also reportedly used as a pressure point to get the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal over the line.