Search-engine users will expect the answer first as more integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models into platforms. That will become the biggest change to consumer behavior, according to Matthew Mierzejewski, senior vice president of the Search and Performance Marketing Lab at Merkle.

The technology will change the way people think about searching on an engine. “Today, we’re used to seeing ads first, the top listing above the fold,” he says. “Why not give the answer first, and then provide an opportunity to see ads and some type of commercial service?”

He says user expectation has the potential to prompt the biggest change. The new Bing.com experience tagline, Learn More, emphasizes the change.

Mierzejewski believes that learning experience and the age of the person searching will impact how someone interacts with the chat features being integrated into search engines.

“My son is 16 and he’s already thinking of ways to use it for school, research and information will probably never be the same,” he said. “Rather going to a search engine and typing small general prompts, the prompts will be more like tell me about the Declaration of Independence.”

Retailers will benefit through searches that ask Bing very simple questions like “Where can I find Golden Goose shoes.”

Prometheus-powered Bing, an open-source tool to monitor and alert in cloud-native formats, takes advantage of programmable hardware to accelerate applications. This is one technology that makes the chat tool fast.

These types of informational queries previously sent a user on an exploration through links. Now the queries will begin with a list of answers.

The most significant immediate impact of OpenAI’s products will live outside of search, where the AI is effectively aiding the user as an assistant,” Mierzejewski wrote in a Merkle post. “Rather than simply fulfilling a search need, it’s about helping the user spark new thinking and ideas. It’s more about doing and prompting versus answering.”

Voice search did not catch on like expected, he said. People went back to their own habits.

“Long term, once there’s trust in responses and personalization and language modeling in digital assistants, then the utility will rise,” Mierzejewski said.

“Rather than simply fulfilling a search need, it’s about helping the user spark new thinking and ideas,” Matthew Mierzejewski, SVP of Merkle’s Search and Performance Marketing Lab, wrote in a Merkle post.