Latest news with #MaryMeeker
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Eating into SEO budgets, GEO is pushing CTRs to obsolescence
AI-driven search may currently account for just 3% of total search traffic, according to BCG (Boston Consulting Group) data, but its growth trajectory can not be ignored. In India, it's already eating into traditional SEO ( Search Engine Optimisation ) budgets and making long-standing metrics like CTR ( Click Through Rate ) increasingly obsolete. The shift is not just theoretical. Semrush predicts that AI-driven channels could rival traditional search in economic impact by 2027, with AI-powered visits converting at 4.4 times the rate of organic search. Marketers can't simply ignore these figures, as the implications for marketers are profound and demand immediate attention. Adding to the urgency is the fact that India now leads the world in ChatGPT usage, accounting for 13.5% of its global user base, according to Mary Meeker's 'Trends – Artificial Intelligence ' report. According to Parul Bajaj, India leader, marketing, sales & pricing, BCG (Boston Consulting Group), 'Over the past year, visits to top 10 AI chatbots have nearly doubled, from around 30 billion in April 2024 to approximately 55–60 billion by March-April 2025. In our view, this is not a short-term change. It represents a fundamentally new discovery model where AI plays a central role in how consumers find, evaluate, and engage with information.' These developments raise important questions for brands operating in India: How are marketers in India responding to 'conversational commerce'? Are they rethinking their strategies, reallocating budgets, and optimising content for AI-driven discovery? Let's hear directly from the marketers and take a closer look at the AI search ecosystem, unpacking one layer at a time. Status check on GEO SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) was built for a world of clickable links and ranked results. It relies on keywords, backlinks and metadata (information describing the data) to push content to the top, but brands can no longer rely on keyword stuffing or legacy optimisation tricks to gain visibility in AI search. To stay relevant, they must optimise content for how AI models read, interpret and surface information. This optimisation is referred to as GEO ( Generative Engine Optimisation ). 'Our research shows that tactics like keyword density, backlinks, and metadata that were important in SEO do not guarantee visibility in AI results. Some of the most-cited pages in AI answers often have fewer keywords and backlinks than top-ranking SEO pages,' Bajaj noted. AI engines typically prioritise content that is conversational, easy to extract, and clearly presented. Brands need to create content that is well-structured, neatly formatted, and includes numerical facts and credible expert quotes. But, the question remains: where do Indian brands stand when it comes to optimising content for AI-led search? 'We have begun structuring our content for AI visibility, whether through schema-rich explainers (content with structured data, making it more understandable for AI engines), FAQs, or simplified jargon-to-journey formats (simplifying industry jargon into clear content guiding consumer decisions). We are seeing a shift from traditional blogs to content that answers rather than just ranks,' said Sandeep Walunj, executive director and group CMO, Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFS). For the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) sector, Walunj believes that future content strategies will focus on creating content that earns trust and citations within AI ecosystems. Highlighting the shift from traditional to AI-driven search in BFSI, Arvind Iyer, marketing head, Piramal Finance, said, 'We're already experiencing the shift where our visibility in AI-generated answers is outpacing our traditional SEO rankings for certain keywords. We are seeing that a significant number of our target keywords that don't rank in the top 50 on Google are already being surfaced by AI platforms in their generative responses. This includes important terms in lending, personal finance, and credit awareness.' It's now evident that AI-driven search isn't just a buzzword; it's a reality for categories like BFSI brands in India. Yet, the question is: is this trend significant enough for marketers to start reallocating budgets for GEO? Investments in GEO While AI-driven search is gaining momentum, it still accounts for just 3% of total search traffic, according to BCG. As a result, most brands in India are not yet making sizable standalone investments in GEO. Instead, they are reallocating a small fraction of their existing digital content budgets to explore this emerging space. Iyer noted that Piramal Finance has begun dedicating 5-8% of its digital content and SEO budget specifically toward AI search optimisation , which includes reformatting content for AI summarisation, tracking how the brand appears in generative answers, and testing what influences being referenced by AI engines. 'In a world of zero-click search, you either get summarised or sidelined. While we have not seen a significant uplift in branded search volumes yet, we believe this is a space worth investing in,' Iyer noted. Speaking of budgets, Boult (a D2C brand known for its audio products and smartwatches) is allocating 3-5% of its content budget on AI search-related initiatives and anticipates this allocation to grow in the next two quarters. Varun Gupta, co-founder, Boult, mentioned that early adopters of GEO practices have seen up to a 20% increase in snippet visibility. Moreover, Walunj noted that while investing in GEO is a priority, the current budget allocation remains in the single-digit percentage range. However, early indicators such as increased citations in AI summaries, reduced bounce rates on educational pages, and higher conversions from AI-generated leads are already encouraging. 'In broking and AMC (Asset Management Company), where the journey is high-stakes and trust-led, appearing in authoritative AI responses is an edge,' Walunj resolved. Resonating with the above-mentioned marketers, Bajaj also emphasised that most aren't carving out separate budgets for AI search optimisation. Instead, they're reallocating a portion of their existing SEO content spend towards GEO efforts. 'At this stage, no major brand in India has fully cracked the code or committed to large-scale investment in AI-driven search,' Bajaj quoted. A different game While BFSI brands are actively exploring GEO, other categories remain hesitant, waiting to see how AI search evolves. The hesitation largely stems from the challenges AI-driven search presents, but what exactly are they? Varadharajan Ragunathan, head of ad tech and retail media, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), pointed out that one of the biggest challenges in embracing GEO is the lack of clarity around how advertising will function on AI engines. 'GEO operates very differently from SEO. Think of it like a roll call in school. Earlier, the teacher would call out a name, but now, it's more like, who's fanatical about cricket and has Virat Kohli's autograph? If that's you, you're called upon. It's an entirely new, contextual way of being recognised. That's not how our brains have traditionally processed search. So the question becomes: how do I change my name, or in this case, my content, so that AI recognises and references me?,' said Ragunathan. Another key challenge, according to Ragunathan, is the need for dual strategies: one for conventional search and another for AI-friendly content. He likens this approach to being a car manufacturer who must now build both electric and conventional vehicles and excel in both. Calling out another challenge, Ragunathan shared that brands now face the challenge of optimising their content for multiple AI search engines, without knowing which one will ultimately dominate. Unlike the past, when Google was the clear winner, the AI search landscape is fragmented and evolving rapidly. 'It's like not knowing whether I'm playing cricket, football, or tennis, yet, I need to impress my cricket coach in the morning, my tennis coach in the evening and my football coach at night,' noted Ragunathan. Ragunathan's words raise an important question: do brands need to create separate content optimised for both SEO and GEO? Addressing this challenge, Bajaj said, 'SEO and GEO are not in conflict with each other. It's not an 'either-or' scenario; it's an 'and'. Both strategies can and should coexist. In my view, GEO isn't replacing SEO, it's augmenting it. And despite the tactical differences, both strategies share a common core: delivering value through intent-driven, user-centric content. GEO extends SEO's reach into zero-click (searches that end without the customer clicking on a web page), AI-powered environments, enhancing discoverability and relevance where search results are increasingly synthesized rather than linked.' This brings us to the next dilemma many marketers face: which AI search engine should they prioritise when optimising their content? As Gupta puts it, 'It is tough to optimise one piece of content across every AI search platform plus traditional SEO. These models interpret information differently, and our biggest challenge so far is identifying how to make our content simultaneously 'citable' for LLMs and 'rankable' for Google, without fragmenting our team's bandwidth.' Bajaj offers a clear approach. She said, 'There's a growing list of AI chatbots in the market today, but when we look closely, we begin to see clear differences in their user profiles. The right strategy begins with identifying on which AI platform your customer base is over-indexed on.' Elaborating her stance with an example, she said, 'ChatGPT, for instance, commands the largest and most diverse user base globally. It's widely used across age groups and demographics, making it the most popular in education and workplace contexts. On the other hand, Claude tends to skew more male and shows a higher concentration of users in the United States. Meanwhile, Google's Gemini leans towards a younger demographic. These nuances are essential for brands crafting their GEO strategies as each platform brings its own audience.' Measuring the impact In the past, one of the main measures of SEO success was CTR (Click Through Rate), which measures the number of people who click on a link or an ad. But now, with a growing number of searches, around 60% (BCG data), ending without any clicks, CTRs will increasingly become less relevant. This raises the challenge of how brands will measure the effectiveness of their GEO strategy . 'Unlike SEO, where we have ranking reports, AI search lacks direct feedback loops. It's unclear why certain sources are preferred or ignored. Moreover, it is difficult to quantify the exact impact of being mentioned in an AI answer since there's often no click-through or attribution. Therefore, we are correlating AI visibility timelines with branded search spikes, time-on-site improvements, and conversion lifts - helping us infer the ROI of being AI-visible,' Iyer revealed. Drawing attention to the challenge posed by the evolving nature of AI, Bajaj said, 'What works today in AI search may not work a month from now. The pace of change is rapid, with platforms constantly evolving and new versions of chatbots being released regularly. This makes it difficult for marketers to rely on fixed playbooks or long-standing best practices.' The rise of social listening In the world of SEO, the formula was relatively straightforward: create quality content, ensure it ranks at the top when customers search for your brand, and move on. But the AI search landscape is changing that dynamic. Since AI engines generate contextual answers by citing third-party sources, brands must now also be concerned with how they are portrayed across the broader internet, not just on their own platforms. This shift means marketers will need to go beyond owned content and actively monitor how their brand is represented in external sources. It calls for continuous engagement with publishers, online communities, and customers. As Bajaj points out, this will drive a greater focus on social listening, with brands enhancing their capabilities to shape and manage their narrative in an AI-driven environment. Naturally, this also signals a growing demand for social listening and online reputation management tools. Tackling AI biases Imagine you're using a voice assistant like Alexa or Siri and you say, 'Call me a cab.' That sentence sounds simple. But behind the scenes, the assistant has to understand what you mean, turn that into a command, find an app that can do it, and then book the ride. Now, let's say a cab company gives Alexa a special set of instructions to help it complete that task. It seems helpful, free code, easy connection and a smooth experience. But here's the catch: those instructions are written in a way that makes Alexa more likely to pick that one company. It doesn't block other ride-hailing apps, but it quietly gives one an advantage. Things like default settings or backup options are all tilted in its favour. Referring to this challenge, Ragunathan said, 'If another cab company wants to show up with the same voice command, they will have to build their own integrations and try to compete against a deeply embedded default algorithm. Eventually, saying 'Call a cab' might always bring up that one company, not because it is the only option, but because the system was quietly built to prefer it. That's how bias can sneak into technology that looks fair on the outside.' AI tools overlook branded content Shedding light on the challenges faced by BFSI brands, Walunj mentioned that BFSI content is typically too jargon-heavy, leading AI tools to skip it. Compounding the issue is the lack of transparency in tracking how and where content appears in AI search results. Additionally, much of the legacy content is not easily understood by large language models like ChatGPT. 'We're solving this by rewriting core education and product pages in LLM-friendly formats, auditing brand presence in AI platforms and building reporting frameworks, and training internal teams to think 'answer-first', not 'SEO-first',' Walunj noted. The challenge of consistency Like humans, AI is also prone to errors and can sometimes hallucinate, generating information that is inaccurate or off-brand. For marketers, ensuring consistency across various AI search engines remains a significant challenge, particularly as content is interpreted and presented differently by each platform. Shifting attention to this challenge, Rajat Abbi, VP - marketing, Schneider Electric, Greater India, said, 'The primary issues include data availability, hyperpersonalisation, and LLM-specific concerns such as hallucination. Delivering contextually relevant content at scale while maintaining consistency is a complex task. Additionally, LLMs pose risks like hallucination, where AI-generated responses may misrepresent facts or dilute brand messaging.' While challenges remain in optimising content for AI-driven search, sectors like BFSI are leading the way through continuous experimentation, setting an example for other industries. The lack of clear feedback loops, combined with the fast-evolving nature of AI platforms, has led many brands to adopt a cautious, wait-and-watch approach. However, AI-driven search is rapidly gaining ground and poised to disrupt traditional SEO practices. With growing optimism around its potential, especially among digitally savvy consumers, brands, particularly consumer-focused D2C players, must begin preparing for this shift now to stay ahead of the curve.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Applied Intuition raises $600 million as it pushes further into defense
Buzzy autonomous vehicle software company Applied Intuition has closed a $600 million Series F funding round, pushing its valuation up to $15 billion. The round was co-led by BlackRock-managed funds and Kleiner Perkins, and included new investments from the Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Greycroft, and more. Existing investors General Catalyst, Lux, Elad Gil, and Mary Meeker's growth fund Bond also participated. Applied Intuition's raise comes just one year after it completed a $250 million Series E, which put the company at a $6 billion valuation. The company makes software that helps companies and government agencies develop autonomous vehicle solutions. That includes simulation software and managing data. 'When they think like, 'I have this software or AI problem,' we generally want them to think about us,' CEO Qasar Younis told TechCrunch last year. 'Like we want to be that first call.' Applied Intuition works with most of the major automakers, as well as autonomous vehicle companies such as Gatik and Kodiak. The company has also increasingly pushed into the defense space. In its newsletter announcing the funding round, Applied Intuition shared that it was asked by the U.S. Army to help bring autonomous tech to some of their vehicles. The company was able to take an infantry squad vehicle from 'bare-bones' to autonomous in just 10 days. This included developing a 'pedal-pushing robot to physically turn the wheel and press the throttle and brake pads.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Travel Weekly
4 days ago
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Mary Meeker's AI Trends Report: 7 takeaways for the travel industry
Deciphering the AI Trends Report from Mary Meeker is no mean feat -- especially considering it's 339 pages long. Yet there are several key takeaways for the travel industry buried within the opus. Meeker is founder and general partner at BOND, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. She's been dubbed the "Queen of the internet," owing to her previous annual publications that take the pulse of technology trends. The latest report is significant, as it's her first since 2019 -- and as always, because the reports are widely read. They lend a certain degree of authority when it comes to shaping the narrative around defining future trends, as well as the flow of investor dollars. Despite its size, it's an accessible read. Hundreds of graphs and charts help tell both the story of artificial intelligence (AI) so far and where it's heading. Fortunately, it's written in a conversational manner; how many tech-heavy reports include phrases like "wicked-fast adoption"? There's even a "wow!" thrown in towards the end. Understandably, there's a lot about the key players (Google, Meta, OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic, xAI and others); the hardware side (data centers and chip manufacturers); and the astronomical costs in training models. Among all this, there are relevant themes for the travel industry. Search is changing Most people are aware of the significant global adoption of AI, and ChatGPT's meteoric take-up has already had extensive coverage. But a large chunk of Meeker's report is concerned with its "unprecedented" growth rate, and the ample statistics lay bare the stark reality: Change is coming, and it's coming faster than we think. Let's pick out one of the most significant statistics: As of April 2025, ChatGPT had 800 million weekly active users and 20 million subscribers. The chart trajectory today is almost vertical, and people are spending more time on it. Users in the United States were spending an average of six minutes a day in July 2024, which rose to 19 minutes a day by the end of April 2025. The report also highlights that ChatGPT hit 365 billion annual searches within two years, while it took Google 11 years to reach that figure. This reinforces the need for travel companies to make the transition from SEO to GEO, or Generative Experience Optimization. Automation in hospitality ChatGPT's ability to help people plan trips is mentioned in a section of the report called "Top Ten Things AI Can Do Today," included as a way it can "organize your life." This is based on May 2025 research. But real-time multilingual voice agents that understand and speak like humans won't be available until 2030, the report says. That's despite startups like Germany's Onsai launching an AI-driven voice solution to aid operational efficiency in the hospitality sector and numerous other players diving into automated customer services. Nor will we see "human-like robots" involved in hospitality automation in the next five years. Again, many in the sector may disagree with this too. By 2035, AI will have reached a capacity to "shape public debate and policy … moderate forums, propose laws and balance competing interests." As governments grapple with overtourism, policymakers might be hoping this arrives a little sooner. The agentic era Looking to the (nearer) future, Meeker's report highlights how "platform incumbents and emerging challengers are racing to build and deploy the next layers of AI infrastructure: agentic interfaces, enterprise copilots, real-world autonomous systems and sovereign models." Racing is the perfect description from the travel industry's point of view, and there are plenty of examples of this already happening, as discussed in PhocusWire's The New Age(nts) Trend Series, with the likes of Kayak moving closer to an agentic model and China-based AI agent Manus making inroads. Property management platform Apaleo has even created a marketplace of AI agents meant for the hospitality sector. The report also describes how AI agents represent a step-change forward: "These are intelligent long-running processes that can reason, act and complete multi-step tasks on a user's behalf. They don't just answer questions -- they execute: booking meetings, submitting reports, logging into tools or orchestrating workflows across platforms, often using natural language as their command layer." Meanwhile, low-cost satellite-driven internet connectivity is set to transform life for the 32% of the world's population that's not currently online. These new users will start from scratch with AI functionality, paving the way for an all-new leapfrog moment. "When these new users come online, they likely won't be met by browsers and search bars. They'll start with AI—and in their native language," the trends report says. It's food for thought for travel companies looking to target emerging economies. "An agent-first internet experience could upend existing tech hierarchies, disintermediating dominant platforms and redistributing value. In this model, the winners wouldn't be those who own the app but those who own the interface," the report says. Major OTAs in a dominant position? The report notes how the AI business model is in flux, with new questions about the one-size-fits-all large language model approach, with smaller, cheaper models trained for custom use cases. While AI is fueling a new wave of travel startups, bigger online travel agencies like Expedia and have an advantage. As the report says: "Specialist vendors aren't standing still. If anything, they're absorbing AI faster -- embedding copilots, automating workflows and fine-tuning models on proprietary industry data. These platforms already have the workflows, the trust and the structured data that AI thrives on. That gives them a head start in deploying domain-specific intelligence." Marketing to Gen Z Gen Z continue to seek inspiration from social platforms, but Meeker's report hones in on the emerging large-scale AI video models, noting a 120% year-over-year increase in the number of models being released. The report includes a quote from Pinterest CEO Bill Ready, made during a recent earnings call: "According to academic studies, 50% of the human brain is wired for visual processing. The ability for users to explore their interest visually and take action on them ... is particularly relevant for Gen Z ... who have been raised on an internet of visual content across images and video," Ready said. With advancements in quality and lowering costs, expect to see more AI generated video content used for marketing in the future. At the same time, the report brings up the industries that could be affected by AI (according to NVIDIA), specifically calling out AI content creation and noting that 50 million content creators around the world could be impacted. Autonomous cars Self-driving fleets like Google's driverless-taxi company Waymo and Tesla's Full Self-Driving beta get a namecheck, hailed as "revenue-generating deployments" rather than science projects confined to test tracks. While the report specifically references market share in San Francisco, it's worth noting that Waymo recently recorded 10 million rides. Meanwhile, Zoox was recently named the official robotaxi partner of Resorts World Las Vegas, bringing its fully autonomous cars directly to one of the city's most prominent luxury resorts. Cybersecurity risks The report acknowledges the dangers of such rapid advancements in AI, including fraud. It also included a quote from Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, who said: "Some of these are already apparent, while others seem likely based on current trends," then citing things like lethal autonomous weapons, surveillance and persuasion, biased decision making, impact on employment, safety-critical applications and cybersecurity. "Long before we have an opportunity to 'solve AI,' however, we will incur risks from the misuse of AI, inadvertent or otherwise," Hassabis said. Source: PhocusWire
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
The AI inflection point: Why every CXO must act now
In 1999, internet pioneer Vint Cerf equated a single year in the digital world to seven in the real one. Today, artificial intelligence has made even that dizzying pace look AI isn't just another buzzword—it's a potent mix of data, computing muscle, rapid investment, and relentless user growth, accelerating far beyond previous technological leaps. If it feels like change has never come faster, that's because it hasn't. And the numbers back that up. Here are some insights from Mary Meeker's whopping 340 page 'AI Trends Report': Rapid Adoption: The New NormalRemember Tom Cruise's iconic "need for speed" from Top Gun? Consider this: ChatGPT took just 17 months to hit 800 million weekly users, compared to the internet's 23 years to reach similar global ecosystems are booming too. Google's Gemini platform alone saw a staggering five-fold growth in its developer base in a single year. But this surge isn't mere consumer fascination. Enterprises and governments are scaling AI in critical areas—operations, customer engagement, R&D, and even regulatory frameworks. Case in point: The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is pushing for complete AI integration across all departments by mid-2025. CXO Takeaway: Rapid adoption means CXOs must proactively integrate AI into core business strategies—not just dabble on the sidelines. Quick experiments and swift deployments are no longer optional, they're survival imperatives. Spending Surges, Monetization Lags Last year, the Big Six tech giants (Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet, AWS, and Meta) spent a whopping $212 billion on infrastructure—up 63% YoY—mostly directed at AI. Yet, the financial returns aren't matching the investment fervor. OpenAI illustrates this vividly: it generated $3.7 billion last year but spent $5 billion just maintaining operations. Such economics are common in early tech cycles—expensive to build, unclear monetization paths, yet bursting with potential. However, the rapidly declining cost of deploying AI models hints at an imminent inflection. True value might soon shift from the models themselves to the innovative products and business models built atop them. CXO Takeaway: Investment is necessary, but monetization and strategic patience are crucial. CXOs should carefully balance short-term financial realities against the long-term transformative potential of AI-driven initiatives. The New Global Battleground Competition is heating up—and fast. Open-source AI, especially from China, is rapidly closing gaps, with Alibaba's Qwen2.5-Max surpassing GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 on certain performance benchmarks. This race is no longer merely commercial; it's geopolitical. As Mary Meeker's report warns, "AI leadership could beget geopolitical leadership—and not vice versa." CXO Takeaway: CXOs must consider AI not just as a competitive advantage, but as a strategic imperative influencing geopolitical positioning, partnerships, and risk management. Real-World Impact: AI Moves Off Screens AI is swiftly transitioning from digital experimentation to tangible, physical impact. Autonomous taxis now constitute 34% of San Francisco's ride bookings. Kaiser Permanente's doctors have already leveraged AI scribes over 2.5 million times, dramatically reducing paperwork. Yum! Brands, the parent company behind KFC and Pizza Hut, has deployed AI across 25,000 outlets to rethink operations fundamentally. CXO Takeaway: CXOs must now envision AI beyond traditional digitization—rethinking workflows, physical operations, and customer interactions from the ground up. Your People Strategy Is Your AI Strategy AI-related job postings surged by 448%, while non-AI roles fell 9%. This dramatic shift isn't just about hiring—it's a critical leadership imperative for retraining, reorienting, and realigning workforce capabilities. Despite heavy AI spending, adoption remains uneven. A Morgan Stanley survey from 2024, cited in the Meeker report, reveals that although 75% of CMOs are exploring AI, most implementations remain incremental, not transformative. Further underscoring the strategic gap, only half of the S&P 500 companies mention AI during earnings calls—suggesting a significant disconnect at the board level. Even when companies adopt AI, the tendency to limit usage to superficial applications persists. The highest returns come only when businesses fundamentally redesign workflows, reshape teams, and recenter strategies around AI. CXO Takeaway: CXOs must spearhead a deeper cultural and operational shift toward AI-centric thinking. This means investing heavily in training, restructuring teams for AI readiness, and embedding AI into board-level strategy discussions—not treating it as a technology afterthought. In a Nutshell: AI is redefining the rules of speed, strategy, and global competition. For CXOs, this isn't a future scenario—it's happening now. Those who embrace these insights and act decisively will shape their industries; those who delay risk becoming case studies in disruption.
Euronews
11-06-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Big Tech emissions rose 150% in 3 years as AI booms, UN body says
Four of the world's biggest artificial intelligence (AI) companies saw the indirect carbon emissions of their work grow by over 150 percent in the last three years, according to a report from a United Nations agency for digital technolgoies. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) tracked the emissions, energy use, and climate commitments of 200 leading digital companies between 2020 and 2023 using public databases. The report found that Amazon, Microsoft, Google's parent company Alphabet, and Meta have seen a rise in emissions that is either produced or purchased by the companies because of "expanding data infrastructure and energy use". Indirect emissions are those that come from purchased electricity, heat, steam, or electricity use, like in data centres, telecommunication networks, or office buildings. Amazon saw the highest emissions increase at over 182 per cent in 2023 compared to 2020, followed by Microsoft at 155 per cent, Meta at 145 per cent, and Alphabet at 138 per cent, according to the report. The consumption of data centres, which power the AI models that these companies are working on, also rose 12 percent year over year from 2017 to 2023, which is four times faster than global energy growth. The report "underscores the urgent need to manage AI's environmental impact," the ITU said in a statement. Euronews Next reached out to the relevant technology companies regarding this report but did not receive an immediate reply. The report also found that half the assessed companies in their report had committed to reaching net-zero by at least 2050 if not earlier. Despite these actions, the report found that overall emissions still rose meaning that net-zero targets "have not yet translated into real-world reductions". The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in our lives is officially unprecedented, according to the woman dubbed the "Queen of the Internet". Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist known for her internet trend insights, released a 340-page report titled 'Trends - Artificial Intelligence,' where copious research and charts show what she characterises as the 'unprecedented' pace of change in which AI is being invested in, developed, adopted, and used. Meeker ran capital firm Kleiner Perkins' growth practice during the 2010s, where she invested in future tech giants like Facebook, Spotify, and Canva. A profile in Forbes credits her with predicting the rise of Apple, Google, and the digital economy with her previous trend reports. 'To say the world is changing at unprecedented rates is an understatement,' Meeker, now the co-founder of venture capital fund Bonds, writes in the new report's introduction. One of the staggering charts of the report shows that ChatGPT, OpenAI's AI chatbot, reached 800 million users by April 2025, a couple of years after its initial launch in October 2022. The company's revenue also skyrocketed in a similar fashion; from zero in 2022 to just under $4 billion (€3.5 billion) by 2025. Based on user data, the rise of ChatGPT, in particular, is history's biggest 'overnight success,' nine years after the company was founded in late 2015, Meeker wrote. "And, unlike the Internet 1.0 revolution, where technology started in the USA and steadily diffused globally - ChatGPT hit the world stage all at once growing in most global regions simultaneously," according to the report. The report shows that ChatGPT reached 100 million global users in less than 2 months after its launch, the fastest technology to do so. In comparison, it took Facebook 4.5 years to reach the same number of users after its launch in the early 2000s. Meeker estimates in the report that it will take three years for a majority of households to adopt AI technology, down from the 12 years it took for households to start using desktop internet regularly. There are various factors at play for the 'rapid and transformative' rise of AI, Meeker writes in the report. There's general buy-in from new AI company founders and more traditional companies for AI adoption, Meeker contends, demonstrated by cash flows being "increasingly directed" towards AI "in efforts to drive growth and fend off investors". The report notes that technology's biggest players, including NVIDIA, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and China's Baidu have all increased the mentions of AI in their corporate earnings reports to shareholders since 2022. That, paired with a new wave of AI company founders that are "extremely aggressive" with all stages of the AI product development - from innovation, to product releases, acquisitions, cash burn, and capital raises - means that AI 'user and usage trending is ramping materially faster' than before. The report also noted that the number of new AI models has gone up 167 percent year over year since 2020, and the size of the data sets they are using is up 260 percent in the same period. Meeker notes that the decrease in costs to develop new models is also unprecedented. Citing Stanford research, the report shows inference costs for those that use the tech have dropped 99 per cent over two years, even though the cost of training a model is up to $1 billion dollars (€850 million). The pace at which competitors can match each other on the market is unparalleled. For instance, Meeker notes that NVIDIA's 2024 Blackwell GPU chip, which helps train AIs to do what users expect, has 105,000 times less energy per token than the 2014 Kepler model. "It's a staggering leap, not just of cost reduction, but of architectural and materials innovation that is reshaping what's possible at the hardware level," she writes.
