The timing is pointed. Search revenue grew 12% year over year to $63.4bn, down from 17% in the previous quarter and 19% in the one before that, and Alphabet's net profit slid 25% to $26.2bn, well short of analyst expectations. Shares fell sharply after hours, with reports putting the drop at 8% to more than 10%.

There is a tension behind the ad push. Schindler acknowledged that the strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact on search revenue because of their lower monetisation, though Google says early signs are encouraging: click-through rates for sponsored product listings in AI Mode are already comparable to organic listings, and user research suggests people find the ads relevant.

The company argues AI is changing how people search rather than shrinking it. Pichai said search queries grew at their fastest year-over-year rate in five years, that AI Mode queries run three times longer on average than traditional searches, and that one in five AI Mode searches globally now involves voice, images or documents. Google has also passed 50 billion visual searches a month.

The wider quarter showed a company spending heavily to keep its AI position. Capital expenditure hit $51.4bn, more than double a year earlier, with a 2026 forecast of $195bn to $205bn and a significantly higher figure promised for 2027. Google Cloud was the bright spot, with revenue up 103% to $30.7bn, helped significantly by sales of its in-house TPU AI chips.