Artificial intelligence is changing the rules of the internet. Google has enormous infrastructure, millions of users, and an established advertising business, but now it must prove that it can adapt without weakening what made it one of the most important technology companies in the world.
1. The business Google needs to protect
For decades, Google Search has been one of the main gateways to the internet. People use it to find information, compare products, locate businesses, and discover websites.
This model does more than provide answers to users: it is also a fundamental source of advertising revenue.
According to Google’s corporate disclosures, advertising accounts for most of its revenue. Companies pay to show ads to people searching for products, services, or information related to their offerings.
The potential problem arises when the way people search changes.
If a user stops visiting multiple pages and starts getting an answer directly from an artificial intelligence assistant, traffic to certain websites could decline. This could change how digital advertising works and reshape the economic relationships between search engines, advertisers, and content creators.
However, it is important to distinguish between a potential risk and a proven outcome: the growth of AI does not automatically mean that Google will lose its leadership position.
2. Financial results reveal a complex picture
Alphabet’s third-quarter 2026 results offer an interesting perspective on the company’s position.
Here are some of the most relevant figures:
- Total revenue: $127.6 billion, up 25% from the same quarter a year earlier.
- Revenue from Google Search and related services: $63.35 billion, up 12%.
- Google Cloud revenue: approximately $30.7 billion, an increase of 103%.
- Net income available to common shareholders: $26.17 billion, compared with $34.979 billion a year earlier.
- Operating income: $40.576 billion, up 30% year over year.
The figures come from Alphabet’s financial results, published on October 28, 2026.
What do these numbers tell us?
First, Google continues to grow and does not depend exclusively on a single activity. Its advertising business continues to generate substantial revenue, while cloud computing and artificial intelligence are expanding its business opportunities.
Second, they show that revenue growth does not guarantee an equivalent increase in net income. The difference between the two results deserves attention, especially during a period of intensive technology investment.
That is why evaluating Google’s position based on revenue alone would be insufficient. It is also necessary to analyze costs, margins, and the money left over after funding its operations and investments.
3. The first argument in Google’s favor: it has advantages that are difficult to replicate
One of the strongest arguments for believing Google can defend its business is the combination of resources it already has.
The company has a well-established search engine, global technology infrastructure, sophisticated advertising systems, and products such as YouTube, Android, Chrome, and Google Maps.
It also has its own artificial intelligence models through Gemini.
This combination allows it to integrate new features into services people already use, rather than relying exclusively on a standalone app.
On October 28, the company reported that Gemini had reached 1 billion users and that search query volume had recorded its highest year-over-year growth in five years. It also noted that it is developing an integrated experience across AI Overviews, AI Mode, and traditional search.
The potential advantage is considerable: Google can use its infrastructure and distribution to introduce AI tools to a huge audience.
But having millions of users does not guarantee that every new feature will be profitable. The company still needs to demonstrate how much economic value this transformation generates.
4. The second argument: artificial intelligence could also threaten its traditional business model
Google’s main risk is not simply that new competitors will emerge. The more profound change could lie in user behavior.
Imagine two ways of searching for information.
In the traditional model, a person types a question, receives a list of results, and visits different pages.
In an AI-based model, they can ask a complex question and receive a synthesized answer, along with additional information or references.
This second experience may be more convenient, but it also raises new economic questions.
If AI-generated answers reduce clicks to external pages, some publishers and businesses could receive fewer visits. Google would also have to determine how to display ads in these new experiences without compromising the usefulness of its answers.
There is also the challenge of costs: generating answers with advanced models requires processing power, infrastructure, and energy.
Therefore, technological success and financial success are not necessarily the same thing.
A tool can be very popular and still need a monetization strategy that can cover its costs.
The real test will be whether Google can deliver better answers while preserving a profitable business model.
5. Google Cloud: a second source of growth
Another important factor is Google Cloud, which provides infrastructure, storage, computing services, and artificial intelligence tools to businesses and developers.
Its year-over-year growth of 103% in the third quarter of 2026 indicates that this division is becoming increasingly important to Alphabet’s business.
This has two implications.
First, Google can generate revenue from businesses that need to develop and run their own AI applications, even if they do not use its search engine as their primary tool.
Second, technological infrastructure can become a competitive advantage. AI models need data centers, chips, networks, and computing capacity to operate at scale.
However, this opportunity also requires significant investment. If demand weakens, costs rise too much, or competition puts pressure on prices, profitability could fall short of expectations.
That is why Google Cloud’s growth is positive, but it should be analyzed alongside its margins, investment needs, and future demand.
6. What could go wrong?
Several risks deserve attention.
First risk: intensifying competition. Other artificial intelligence providers may attract users who prefer chatting with an assistant rather than using a traditional search engine.
Second risk: insufficient monetization. If Google incorporates AI answers that increase its costs but do not generate enough revenue to offset them, its profitability could come under pressure.
Third risk: excessive investment. Building and operating AI infrastructure requires large amounts of capital. Lower-than-expected demand could reduce the returns on those investments.
Fourth risk: regulatory changes. Decisions by authorities on competition, advertising, privacy, and service distribution can affect how Google operates in different markets.
Fifth risk: user trust. Incorrect answers, a lack of transparency, or a less useful search experience could harm the reputation of its products.
These are possible risks, not inevitable outcomes. To determine their real significance, it is necessary to track financial results and changes in user behavior.
7. What should investors watch?
To assess whether Google is defending its core business, it is useful to monitor several indicators over the coming quarters.
1. Search revenue growth. If it remains strong, that would signal that the traditional business continues to hold up. A prolonged slowdown would warrant investigating its causes.
2. AI profitability. It is not enough to know how many Gemini users there are. It also matters whether its services generate enough revenue to justify their costs.
3. Google Cloud’s results. Its growth and margins will help assess whether this division can become a lasting source of profits.
4. Free cash flow. This indicator shows how much cash remains after operating expenses and capital investments. It is especially important for a company that is expanding its infrastructure.
5. How competition is evolving. User behavior and the ability of other assistants to attract customers could provide signals about how the market is changing.
None of these indicators, on its own, can predict with certainty how Alphabet’s stock will perform. An investment decision also requires considering the stock’s valuation, market expectations, and time horizon.
8. So, can Google defend its core business?
The most reasonable answer is that Google has significant competitive advantages, but it still needs to prove that it can turn its AI leadership into profitable and sustainable growth.
Recent results show that the company continues to grow considerably and that Google Cloud is advancing strongly. In addition, integrating AI into search could allow it to adapt to users’ changing expectations without abandoning its core product.
On the other hand, the decline in net income in the third quarter and questions about monetizing new experiences show that rising revenue does not eliminate every risk. The market will have to assess whether current investments are generating sufficient returns.
The question, therefore, is not just whether Google will survive artificial intelligence. It is whether it can turn AI into an advantage that strengthens its search engine, diversifies its revenue, and protects its profitability.
Google is not starting from zero in this transformation. It has users, infrastructure, established products, and the ability to develop its own artificial intelligence models.
But its advantages do not make it invulnerable.
The company needs to demonstrate that it can deliver a competitive search experience, maintain users’ trust, and generate enough profits to justify its investments.
Google’s future will depend less on how much artificial intelligence advances on its own and more on how successfully the company turns that progress into real value for its users, customers, and shareholders.