If you use Gmail, you have probably encountered Gemini, their intrusive new AI “assistant.” It “assists” you in the same way a used car salesman “assists” you in choosing a car. If you thought Microsoft Word’s Clippy was bad, you will really, really hate Gemini.
For instance: A friend who’s moving emailed me her new address, and I searched her name and address in Gmail’s search bar.
Up pops a scary summary of what we talked about in the email thread. And then I saw this today in The Lever:
Right now, Google’s revenue stream comes from advertising via its search monopoly. Search queries are cheap, and the ads Google sells are pricey due to its market power, so it’s a very profitable business.
Gemini, by contrast, is expensive to operate and generates no revenue. Even if Google were able to shift all of its search advertising revenue to Gemini, it would be moving from an extremely high-margin business to a lower-margin one. So what’s actually going on?
