[theedwood]

Recently started looking in to GPT/LLM based search tools like perplexity.ai for this very reason. I've not used perplexity enough yet that I feel I can form a solid opinion one way or another yet, but I have yet to receive sponsored results or SEO spam from it. Sometimes I have to tailor the query a little differently than I would on a traditional search engine (using more natural language, for example) but it almost always returns useful information and cites it's sources for me so I can read more if the summary wasn't sufficient.

I think Google has divested enough of it's profit from search that it's no longer the cash cow it once was and we're likely to see the quality of the product continue to decline. I would not be surprised if most people have replaced it in the coming years with one of the emerging LLM augmented competitors unless they choose to get on that bandwagon.

The ultimate irony would be to see Google, ever the killer of products, kill off their original product at some point down the road.

[bobthepanda]

The problem is that SEO and spam make money for those using it, so it is basically an arms race vs whatever search engine is dominant. The moment something else other than Google becomes popular it will become their problem.