GOOGL: Alphabet Stock Tumbles as CEO Pichai Unveils Search Overhaul Without Blue Links

You know the iconic blue links neatly stacked on the results page? The new AI Mode, rivaling ChatGPT, will answer questions in a conversational manner, ditching that classic feature.

👀 But Can You Still Say “Google It”?

• Alphabet stock GOOGL skittered down Tuesday, falling 1.5% after CEO Sundar Pichai closed out the Google I/O 2025 dev conference with a sweeping announcement: the iconic Google search is getting a major AI facelift — and those classic blue links? They're no longer center stage.
• The new “AI Mode,” a direct response to AI bellwethers like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, will answer queries in a chatbot-style interface that aggregates information into conversational summaries.
• That means fewer clickable results — and potentially fewer ad impressions — for users who’ve been trained for decades to “Google it” the old-fashioned way.

👋 Bye Bye, Blue Links

• The overhaul marks Google’s most radical rethinking of its core product in years. “It’s a total reimagining of search with more advanced reasoning,” Pichai said on stage. “We are now entering a new phase of the AI platform shift where decades of research are now becoming reality.”
• Rolling out initially as a separate tab for users in the US, AI Mode is Google’s response to the growing shift toward AI-first search experiences.
• What does it mean for Google? The search giant’s top-of-the-rankings place is no longer guaranteed and now it’s striving to protect its near-monopoly on global search — a business that still delivers the lion’s share of Alphabet’s revenue.

🤔 Google at Risk?

• User migration is real. Up until now, Google has been handling as much as 90% of the global internet search and that’s been filling up the company’s bank account with about $250 billion a year thanks to advertising, or roughly 80% of total annual revenue.
• Last month, Apple executive Eddy Cue said that Google searches in Safari have slipped — for the first time in about 20 years.
• Shares of the Google parent are down roughly 13% this year, more or less in line with the broader downtrend across the Magnificent Seven club.