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Franc Talking – Weekly Round-up, 31 August 2025

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One click to tell your AI assistant to remember this issue covering Google’s US/EU rulings, OpenAI’s strategist hire, and the rise of AI search traffic.
💬 ChatGPT 🧭 Perplexity 🎨 Claude
Welcome

🗣️ Top Stories

If you work in marketing, product, or tech - and want to keep pace with the shifts AI is driving across search, software and strategy - here’s what you need to know this week.

  • 🌍 Google slapped by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic – The Verge highlights US critics saying the DOJ’s antitrust remedies amount to a slap on the wrist, while in Europe the company faces a €3.45bn fine for anti-competitive practices. With Brussels and Washington aligned but taking different tones, there’s speculation this mix of penalties and pushback could spark wider trade tensions between the US and EU.
    Key takeout: A fine of this scale isn’t just the cost of doing business — it’s a signal that Europe is hardening its stance on US tech dominance. Whether this escalates into a Trump-era trade dispute remains to be seen, but the direction of travel is clear: transatlantic tensions over Big Tech are rising.
  • 🧑‍💼 OpenAI hiring highlights the human factor – NDTV reports that OpenAI is recruiting a content strategist on a package worth up to $400k. The irony hasn’t been lost on social media: the world’s leading AI company still needs a human to steer its messaging and brand.
    Key takeout: Even in a sector driven by automation, the positioning of products, services and narratives remains a fundamentally human job. AI might generate the copy - but the strategy behind it still commands a premium.
  • 📉 Traditional search eroded by AI features – A Wix AI Search Lab study shows that AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative answers are reshaping search habits, reducing reliance on the “ten blue links.” Publishers are already reporting falling referral traffic, while Google insists clicks are more “qualified.”
    Key takeout: The future isn’t about ranking for keywords in a traditional search experience, it’s about being mentioned as an authoritative source in AI search results. Visibility here is fast becoming the KPI that matters most for brands and publishers alike that can help influence purchasing decisions.

    • In case you missed it, earlier in the week I launched a new AI Search Intelligence platform called Obsero . I'll be documenting our growth story in my newsletter, alongside all of the other big news in AI Search. This week is a bit light because, as you can imagine, launch week is full on!

    Thanks to each and every one of you for subscribing and reading. Have a great week!

    Andy Francos

    Andy

    📖 What I’ve been reading this week in business, marketing & tech

    👇 Tap-worthy reads worth your time.

    ✨ AI

    🔍 Google & Search

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    Chart of the week

    Chart of the week
    Crystal Carter of Wix shared a chart that really highlights the growth in AI Search (ChatGPT, Perplexity e.t.c) vs. Google (which includes AIOs + AI Mode) over the past two years. A lot of this is incremental, meaning that users are opting for both Google an AI Chatbots, rather than the latter replacing the former.

    Note: Google traffic includes all Search visits, but AI Overviews/AI Mode aren’t split out separately in this dataset.

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