AI Field Notes – Issue 16

This week’s theme: control.

Google is trying to control its ecosystem, AI habits are controlling expectations, and businesses are struggling to control their place in a shopper journey that’s collapsing. Here’s what stood out.

1. Google’s Narrative Play: Hiring an Anti-Scraping Analyst

Google is hiring an “anti-scraping engineering analyst.” On paper, that’s about protecting Google’s data. In reality, it’s about controlling the narrative.

Scraping is when outside tools extract Google’s data—everything from SEO trackers and ad monitoring software to AI platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity pulling information to train models or generate answers. Google doesn’t want its results powering competitors.

At the same time, Google is working harder than ever to keep traffic inside its own ecosystem. AI Overviews, featured snippets, and answer boxes all reduce the need to click out to a business website. This is the Great Decoupling: impressions look healthy, but actual clicks are falling.

For businesses, this creates a dangerous illusion. Your brand may “show up” in search, but fewer people are actually reaching your site. And soon, you’ll need to track not just Google, but AI-driven referrals from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Because traffic to your site is about to get much harder to capture.

2. ChatGPT Habits Begin at Home—And That Includes Your Customers

OpenAI’s usage report revealed that 73% of ChatGPT use is personal, not work. People are planning meals, journaling, learning new skills, writing emails.

That sounds harmless, but here’s the business risk: your prospects and customers are part of those numbers. They’re forming habits around AI—expecting speed, clarity, and direct answers. Once those habits are ingrained at home, they bring the same expectations into professional life.

If your company can’t deliver the same seamless experience, you’ll feel the gap.

3. The Shopper Journey Is Collapsing

The classic funnel—awareness → search → click → compare → decide—is breaking down. More and more, shoppers just ask AI: “What’s best for me?”

And AI doesn’t return 10 links. It gives one confident answer. If your business isn’t part of that answer, you’re invisible. That’s not a subtle shift—it’s a collapse of the middle stages of discovery.

4. Perplexity & the Cloudy Ad Market Ahead

Perplexity has a $20B valuation and a strong product reputation. But its ad and commerce experiments are sputtering. Advertisers want ROI. Users want trust. Neither side is fully satisfied yet.

This is a preview of the broader ad market in 2026. Businesses will be caught balancing one foot in Google’s world of search ads and another in AI’s emerging “solve my problem” environment. As AI companies test different ad models, expect volatility. Cost pressures, shaky performance, and wasted spend are all risks until the market stabilizes.

For business owners, that means a rough period ahead—ad dollars may not work as efficiently while this battle plays out.

5. Your Website: The Last Mile Still Decides Winners

No matter how people discover you—Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini—the destination still matters most. And here’s the reality: if your site doesn’t solve problems instantly, you’ll lose the customer.

That means moving beyond static pages. Think:

• AI chatbots that answer questions in real time.
• Comprehensive quoting systems that deliver clarity fast.
• Interactive tools like configurators, calculators, or design aids that reduce friction.

Discovery is moving upstream into AI systems, but conversion is still happening at your front door.

Closing Thought

Google is trying to control the narrative. AI is controlling user behavior. And businesses are left trying to control shrinking visibility and rising expectations.

The truth is simple: being found is no longer enough. You need to be the answer—and once you’re found, you need to solve instantly.