We've talked a lot this hour about antitrust regulation, but that may not be the only threat to Google's core search ad business.

AI search startup perplexity in talks to introduce sponsored questions in a bid to cut into the search giant's

massive share of the digital ads market. Deardre Bosa has more in today's

tech check. This is Deardre the risk that investors have been keenly focused on.

It's essentially the existential risk, right, that Google faces.

So essentially, as you mentioned, there's regulatory risk as well.

Pressure's coming from all sides.

Now, a source confirmed to me that perplexity is in talks with major brands like Nike and Marriott

on that new advertising model that would allow them to pay for sponsored posts.

The Financial Times report of these names first.

Currently the startup makes money through monthly subscription so diving into the ad market would be a new

Potentially more lucrative way of monetizing its viral popularity it also takes a page out of Google's AI Playbook. Now Google's Gemini Chatbot and AI

overviews they already incorporate links and answers that is supposed to align with the

user's interactions. So ask it for ground booths in San Francisco. It'll give

you links to stores in the Bay Area and the ratings on Google Maps. In the future, the

idea is that companies will be able to pay to appear there much like they do in those

ten blue links at the top of a Google search. I spoke to James Cadawalader, the

co-founder of Profound. This is a startup that does something called AIO or AI optimization on behalf

of companies that currently advertise on Google using SEO or search engine

optimization. His company runs millions of prompts to try and figure out how brands show up in AI answers.

Have a listen.

The future we see is it will be a new pillar of the marketing experience where you have, you know, paid search,

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