A screenshot of a Google internal meeting has been circulating in the tech world. Pichai stands in front of a whiteboard, his handwritten notes messy yet striking: "Search plus AI, not either/or".

More crucial is the line below it in smaller text: "No subscription for AI in Search".

This is tantamount to tearing a hole in Google's multi-billion-dollar annual search business model. To put it in perspective, Google's search ad revenue alone reached $175 billion last year. Now, to embed the most cutting-edge AI capabilities for free is not an act of charity; it's a necessity.

Users have already voted with their feet. The search behavior of younger demographics is shifting from "keyword + enter" to conversational queries, with AI search tools like Perplexity seeing their daily active users double. Pichai admitted in the meeting: "We are seeing a fundamental shift in user query patterns."

But the free strategy has a trap. When AI generates answers directly instead of showing links, where is the survival space for traditional search ads? Google engineers are complaining on internal forums: "We are tearing down the toll booths we ourselves built."

Meanwhile, OpenAI's upcoming new model is said to support web search, and Microsoft Bing's market share has quietly climbed to 9%. Three years ago, that number was less than 3%.

Perhaps Pichai's whiteboard should have another line added: In this battle, there are no bystanders, only those who fall behind.

(Image: A photo of the Google internal meeting whiteboard, clearly showing the handwritten strategic points)