The Unexpected Winner of Alphabet's AI Search Woes $GOOGL

You probably used to carry a USB stick on your keychain. Before that, it was CDs or floppy disks. Transferring files meant carrying hardware, losing it, or having it fail when you needed it most. That process disappeared when cloud storage allowed documents to sync instantly across devices, from anywhere.

Point-and-shoot cameras followed the same pattern. Nikon once shipped millions of units per year. Smartphones ended that. The tools stayed, but the access method shifted to something faster and more convenient. Convenience won, and dedicated hardware lost.

Garmin built a multibillion-dollar business selling GPS units for cars. In 2010, its automotive and mobile segment represented 62% of total company revenue. By 2024, that segment contributed just 5.9%. The rise of smartphone navigation rewired user behavior, and demand for standalone GPS hardware collapsed.

These shifts didn’t happen because people stopped needing directions, photos, or files; they happened because a faster, more embedded layer took over. 

When access changes, every business model built on the old path gets disrupted.

Search is next.

Google knows it. 

Alphabet (GOOGL) generated $90.2 billion in total revenue in Q1 2025. Of that, $50.7 billion came from Google Search and Other, which accounted for more than 56% of the company’s top line in a single quarter.

That dominance depends on one behavior: typing a question, reviewing results, and clicking a link.

For two decades, that model has shaped how the internet is used.

Generative AI is already changing that engrained search behavior at a faster pace than any platform before it.

ChatGPT reached 365 billion annual searches in two years. Google required eleven.

ChatGPT’s growth to one billion searches per day happened five and a half times faster than Google’s did. That velocity is unprecedented. Users no longer browse and compare; instead they ask a question and get a direct, source-backed answer in seconds.

Apple could make that model the default, and soon.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is in talks with Perplexity AI, a generative search engine backed by Jeff Bezos and Nvidia. During legal testimony, Apple executives confirmed they are evaluating generative tools, including Perplexity, for possible integration into Safari.

Perplexity provides a single, real-time answer, pulled from live web data and supported by citations. The experience eliminates sponsored results, removes the ad stack, and skips the need to navigate pages.

Safari is Apple’s browser and comes preinstalled on every iPhone. Google is the default search engine inside Safari because it pays for that placement. If Apple switches the default to Perplexity, mobile search traffic on iPhones could begin bypassing Google at the point of entry.

Alphabet shares plunged this morning in pre-market trading, driven by the perceived risk of GOOGL losing default access to consumer purchase intent.

If we’re being honest, a move like this from Apple is only speeding up the inevitable.

Generative AI is spreading through U.S. households at a rate that outpaces every major digital technology in recent history.

Google’s search business is built on a habit that is weakening, and the impact on Alphabet is crystal clear. 

But the second-order effects are where investors should be paying attention.

That’s what the rest of this report explores. 

We see a tremendous opportunity in a pin-action stock that has been screaming about the downside of Google search for years. 

And the market still has no clue. 

Right now this stock is trading -46% off highs established just 6 months ago.

Check it out below!

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