AI Search in 2026
Welcome to Franc Talking.
Happy New Year to you. I hope you enjoyed the festive season with your families.
📺 If you’re a growth marketer, this interview is required viewing. Elena Verna breaks down how Lovable scaled to $200M ARR with just 100 people - and why that changes how growth teams should think about strategy heading into 2026.
🔮 I’ve been thinking a lot over the holidays about what we can expect in 2026 and my three predictions are as follows:
Apple enters the AI race with a bang: A Gemini powered Siri would be a powerful addition to the iPhone. Apple already has the distribution, but is lacking in Intelligence, Google’s Gemini will help with this and provide a new revenue stream for Alphabet. Back in September, I spoke with Simon Thillay on all things Apple and how come they are so far behind in the AI race.
ChatGPT’s ads become a huge hit with advertisers: It is inevitable that OpenAI will launch their ads platform sometime in 2026, given their financial forecast, the leaks over the past six months and an exclusive by The Information on Christmas Eve regarding what ads will look like. Before the holidays, I caught up with Christian Ward of Yext and he gave his breakdown of what ads could look like on ChatGPT, which is not too dissimilar to what The Information is reporting.
Consumer-facing chatbots will have a major makeover: The homepage of Google Search has remained unchanged for 25 years (yes, ‘I’m feeling lucky’ is still there), but I expect LLMs homepages to have a major UI uplift at some point and 2026 could be that year. Could we see a text box be replaced by an AI avatar that you speak with to get started? Will you get a more personalised UI if you plug all of your systems into your AI?
What happened this week
🗣️ 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.
🔎 AI Search marketing’s billion-dollar dilemma
AI search influence is accelerating at lightning pace but still trails traditional search. There have been many discussions on whether marketers disagree on whether it replaces SEO or complements it. Evidence suggests core SEO principles still apply: authoritative content, strong branding, freshness and genuine user discussion. Most expect SEO and AI optimisation to merge over time.
Reference: WSJ
I’ve been consistent on this point: SEO still matters in an AI-search-driven world, but new skills need to be learnt to really drive growth and upskill leaders across the business.
The fact that Adobe recently paid $1.9 billion for SEMrush suggests one of the world’s largest tech companies sees the same opportunity ahead. That’s why I co-built Obsero - to support this transformation and help clients navigate what’s changing.
The combined SEO and AI optimisation market is forecast to grow from ~$81bn to ~$171bn by 2030, fuelling heavy startup investment. It’s a huge category - and one that will continue to develop through 2026.
📱Will ChatGPT’s apps ever take off and are they a real threat to Apple's App Store?
When OpenAI launched apps back in October, this was a direct hit on Apple’s App Store, letting users complete tasks inside ChatGPT. Early results are mixed: Instacart works well, but most integrations, such as Uber, are clunky and limited.
For many brands, ChatGPT’s sheer audience size is the primary reason to build integrations. Uber has been quick to frame its move defensively, describing its ChatGPT app as a “test project” and positioning it as experimentation rather than a full commitment, while it works out what actually delivers value to customers.
Traditional mobile apps remain faster and more capable, leaving OpenAI far from seriously threatening Apple-for now.
Reference: WSJ
“How do these apps get invoked?” was the question asked by Uber’s Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal, which indicates a lack of analytics to understand discovery of apps. The current process is clunky, confusing and unnatural to what consumers are used to.
Think how easy it is to open a smartphone, search for an app in the app store and find what you’re after, whether it be a specific brand or you’re browsing a category and discover an app this way. The WSJ’s study highlights how buggy the current app ecosystem is on ChatGPT. User understanding is poor on how to engage with these apps. Do you need to follow brands? Should you @ them? Will they appear for a generic prompt?
OpenAI and Sam Altman have been accused of rushing projects and drifting from the core mission, highlighted by last month’s internal red alert. An apps marketplace needs demand on both sides - but right now developers are shipping buggy integrations without understanding discovery, while users don’t even realise these apps exist.
The best articles I’ve been reading this week on AI Search
📖 What I’ve been reading this week
The best articles this week on AI Search and how it affects business, marketing and tech.
🤖 AI
2026 Predictions: Apple Will Reverse Its AI Slump (Sub required)
OpenAI Ramps Up Audio AI Efforts Ahead of Device (Sub required)