'Ads are coming.' An AI search expert predicts what the future of search is going to look like

Search bar.
(Image credit: Shutterstock/MT.PHOTOSTOCK)

As ChatGPT takes its first tentative steps into search territory with the unimaginatively titled, but groundbreaking, ChatGPT search, and with other AI search engines like Perplexity already well established, we're going to need to start thinking about the way we search for information online in a different way.

With this in mind I talked to A.J. Ghergich, a global VP at Botify, a leading AI-powered search visibility solution, and he shared his thoughts on what 2025 and beyond will look like for search, now that AI has entered the chat.

“The old guard is adapting little bits of AI, and AI is trying to mimic the old guard with traditional search”, he says, “which is a funny place to be.”

Ads are coming

At the moment AI search differs from traditional search not only in the way you search – it’s much more like having a two-way conversation instead of typing in search terms – but in the way it deals with adverts. Currently, there aren’t any in ChatGPT search, but how long does Ghergich think this will last?

“It will be a hot minute,” he laughs. “Ads are coming. If it’s free, you’re the product. We’ve learned this with everything that’s come before. Interestingly, just this month, Sam Altman tweeted that ChatGPT’s Pro subscription, which costs $200 a month, is not profitable, and he was surprised. But the point is, if they’re not making money on the $200-a-month subscription, it's not too much of a stretch to think that they might be upside-down on the $20-a-month Plus subscription, too. Power-user or not, ads are coming.”

Ghergich thinks that another reason for adverts coming to AI-powered search is that we will actually want them, and even start to demand them.

“You wouldn’t think that, because if you ask consumers if they want ads, they’re like ‘Hell no! I don’t want ads in there,’ but in the end, they will,” he says. “What will happen is that these systems will become so personalized and customized to you that when the ads show up, they won’t feel intrusive or wrong; they will show up in helpful ways.”

A.J. Ghergich

A.J. Ghergich sees a future where AI is talking to AI on the web (Image credit: Botify)

AI will be talking to AI

Of course, with the rise of AI agents, we’re now looking at a situation where very soon AI won’t need a human to interact with; it will be able to search for things on its own, and that’s going to have some big implications for the web.

“In the future, the majority of searchers will be AI, not human,” says Ghergich. “We’ll cross this threshold, and the way we communicate will have to change. It’s not just Google or Bing bots anymore. Now, you have hundreds of thousands or millions of these Generative AI chatbots. If you say you want to buy a new pair of socks, your assistant will be searching the web, so you don’t have to. Once that improves, we’ll never go back.”

Once the web becomes AI agents talking to AI agents, I wonder, will it change into something that humans can’t interact with or recognize anymore?

“Yes, I think so, and it will lead to changes in how the web is created,” says Ghergich. “Remember, in the acronym LLM, the middle 'L' stands for language. AI agents don’t need JavaScript and HTML. There’s a lot of efficiency and savings that can be had if you use AI for AI communication just with language. If you strip out the massive megabytes and gigabytes of bloat, and if you did that worldwide, you could have a much more efficient type of communication, and cut costs and errors. A restructure of architecture and infrastructure-type play will transpire where web infrastructure gets disrupted, because AIs don’t need all that.”

Classroom

Could AI make crowded classrooms a thing of the past? (Image credit: Future)

What about the humans?

This makes me wonder, what are we, the humans, going to be doing while the AI agents are having a party on the web without us?

“A lot of this comes down to ‘what is humanity’s role in an AI world?’. AI will clearly disrupt all aspects of our lives, but that doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. I’m more bullish and hopeful than not,” says Ghergich. “I try to be positive. For me, there’s one area that I desperately want AI to disrupt consumer lives – education. If you take what we have now, and you were to give every child from three years old to 18 a tutor that is there, whether she lives in the poorest area of the planet or not, for math and science and is infinitely patient and personalized to that person, then, you could change the world, you could change the fate of the planet.”

These may sound like bold claims, but the technology to do this is already here.

“Even if the development of AI just stopped today,” says Ghergich, “and you took ChatGPT as an educationally fine-tuned assistant and gave it to the planet, in 20 years, you’ll have a better planet.”

So, ultimately it looks like there is hope for humans in the AI future we’re all headed towards at warp speed, but there’s going to be some pain as well, and there are going to be things that don’t survive the transition that perhaps should. We might be looking at each other in a few years going, "Do you remember when you used to have to search the internet yourself?" – and that future might not be as far off as you think.

You might also like

TOPICS
Graham Barlow
Senior Editor, AI

Graham is the Senior Editor for AI at TechRadar. With over 25 years of experience in both online and print journalism, Graham has worked for various market-leading tech brands including Computeractive, PC Pro, iMore, MacFormat, Mac|Life, Maximum PC, and more. He specializes in reporting on everything to do with AI and has appeared on BBC TV shows like BBC One Breakfast and on Radio 4 commenting on the latest trends in tech. Graham has an honors degree in Computer Science and spends his spare time podcasting and blogging.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Read more
ChatGPT search on a laptop.
What is ChatGPT search: everything you need to know about the AI search tool
A laptop screen showing the Google and ChatGPT logos
Goodbye Google? People are increasingly switching to the likes of ChatGPT, according to major survey – here’s why
AI
Our predictions for AI in 2025 – what next for ChatGPT, Apple Intelligence and more
AI
5 massive AI trends I'm looking out for in 2025
Multiple products with AI
Why is AI in everything these days? What you need to know about the world’s favorite buzzword
ChatGPT and Perplexity logos.
I pitted ChatGPT search against Perplexity to see which was the best AI search engine, and the results surprised me
Latest in Artificial Intelligence
AI fashion
I asked ChatGPT 4o, Gemini Live, and Siri what to wear, and only one could really help me look my best
Gemini on a mobile phone.
Worryingly, Google Gemini’s new AI image generation features can be used to remove watermarks from images and I'm concerned
Apple Intelligence
It’s crunch time for Apple Intelligence as Apple execs look for a solution to the company’s AI woes
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over
Super Mario Odyssey
ChatGPT is the ultimate gaming tool - here's 4 ways you can use AI to help with your next playthrough
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers remarks before the start of an Apple event at Apple headquarters on September 09, 2024 in Cupertino, California. Apple held an event to showcase the new iPhone 16, Airpods and Apple Watch models. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The big Siri Apple Intelligence delay proves that maybe we really don't know Apple at all
Latest in Features
A screenshot from the movie Sea Fever on Prime Video
5 Irish horror movies and shows I recommend streaming on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu and more this St Patrick's Day
Disappointed by The Electric State? Here's 4 reasons you should watch Tales From the Loop on Prime Video
A computer file surrounded by red laser beams
Cover your tracks: the risk of sending unencrypted files
Close up of PS5 DualSense controller leaning on a PS5
5 reasons your PS5 needs a VPN
Anora sitting on Ivan's lap in a casino in her self-titled film, one of the best new Hulu movies in March 2025
5 new Prime Video movies with over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes I think you should stream in March
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
With discounts of up to 95%, these are the biggest deals I've managed to find in the Steam Spring Sale