AI answers replace search
People get answers from models instead of clicking through to sources.
stageEmerging Open on the map →
Facts
- Lane
- Interfaces and society
- Wave
- 5 of 12 (build order, not a date)
- Needs
- 8 boxes all the way back through hard links
- Unlocks
- 0 boxes downstream through hard links
- Leverage
- None
- Cluster
- Assistants and the public
- When
- Here since 2024
Evidence as of October 2026
Google referrals to eight large UK publishers fell 7.1% in one quarter of 2025 as AI Overviews expanded; on that trend they halve by Q3 2027.
Watch
Search referrals to publishers. UK publishers are on course to see them halve by Q3 2027.
Timeline note
Google launched AI Overviews in May 2024.
Detail boxes 1
Generative engine optimisation
Marketing aimed at what models and agents recommend: measuring and shaping how brands appear in AI answers.
Profound raised $96M at a $1B valuation on 24 Feb 2026, about 18 months after founding, and claims more than 700 enterprise customers (vendor claim).
Around it
Unlocks · 0
Nothing further on the map.
Loops and off-ramps
Openings researchers' judgement, October 2026 scouting
Startup room 31/100 · rank 112 of 124 Research room 31/100 · rank 116 of 124
- Depth
- light
- Players
- Google AI Mode (1bn+ users); ChatGPT (1.2bn weekly); Perplexity
- Wedge
- No small-team wedge; source attribution and compensation sit in creator and infoeco. none