Google's AI search slashes publisher traffic

google's ai search changes have disrupted the online publishing industry, which had long relied on google for traffic. in 2024, google introduced ai overviews, which summarize search results and provide links to sources. by august 2024, ai overviews appeared for almost a quarter of news-related searches. in may 2025, google launched ai mode, a chatbot-like interface that provides detailed summaries. these changes have led to a significant decrease in traffic to online publishers, raising concerns about their survival. the news/media alliance warned that the impact could be catastrophic.