Google is afraid of being left behind and thinks the solution is to put AI in everything, regardless of whether users want or need it.
That’s according to a LinkedIn post by Scott Jenson, a former Google employee of more than 15 years who left his role as a part-time senior UX designer last month.
Why we care Google is rapidly losing the trust of users, SEOs, advertisers, brands, and content creators in its relentless AI push, even though AI is clearly not yet able to reach its potential. While we should always be skeptical of comments from former employees, several people who have left Google lately have told a similar story, confirming what many of us have suspected from the outside. Google has lost its way and is chasing profits at the expense of the product (Search).
Stone cold panic. Jenson believes that AI has value, but not the motivation that drives him to Google. He wrote it’s LinkedIn:
“The ‘AI projects’ I was working on were under-motivated and driven by this senseless panic that as long as I had ‘AI’ it would be great. This short-sightedness is NOT something driven by a user need. It’s a cold panic that they’re being left behind.” “The vision is that there will be a Tony Stark-like Jarvis assistant on your phone that will lock you into its ecosystem so tightly that you’ll never get out. That vision is pure catnip. The fear is that they can’t afford to let go let someone else get there first.”
Like Google Plus. Jenson compared it to Google’s social media panic over the rise of Facebook, leading to the launch of Google Plus in 2011:
“This happened 13 years ago with Google+ (I was there for that fiasco too). It was a similar hysterical reaction but on Facebook.”
Dig deeper. Google AI Overviews: More Searches, Less Satisfaction
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About the author
Danny Goodwin has been the editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo – SMX since 2022. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as a senior editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Expert (SME) program. Also helps schedule US SMX events.
Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He was previously executive editor of Search Engine Journal (2017-2022), editor-in-chief of Momentology (2014-2016), and editor from Search. Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at numerous major search conferences and virtual events, and has brought his expertise to bear in a wide range of publications and podcasts.
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