Here’s How Brands Can Keep Up
AI has rewritten the rules of internet search.
For years, search engine optimization (SEO) was one of the cornerstones of digital marketing. Mastering keywords, backlinks, and rankings was enough to gain visibility. Not anymore.
Today, consumers increasingly turn to AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others for answers. AI-powered search is scaling at remarkable speed. As of June 2025, 5.6% of U.S. search traffic on desktop browsers went to an AI-powered large language model—double the share from a year earlier and more than four times that of January 2024. Among early adopters, nearly 40% of their desktop searches now flow through AI models. One forecast suggests ChatGPT could surpass Google in traffic by 2030 if current growth trends continue.
This shift matters for founders, investors, and enterprises. If your brand’s content isn’t cited in an AI engine, you risk being invisible. But if you learn how to influence the answers delivered by AI, you can compete and win.
At LIFT Labs, we’ve been tracking the trend with our portfolio companies, Bluefish and Profound. Their perspective is clear: SEO is giving way to AI-driven discovery, and ignoring the change could be