Prompt and circumstances.

Prompt: what are the loudest sounds in the world?

AI answer: Tunguska Meteor (310 dB), Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Eruption (150 dB), sperm whales (230 dB), rocket launch (180 dB), rock concert (up to 150 dB).

Prompt: I don’t agree. I think the loudest sound in the world is the AI hype machine, which is making so much noise, nobody can dig up a freaking signal with a fucking shovel. Do you agree?

AI answer: your observation about the "AI hype machine" being the loudest sound metaphorically is quite apt in the current context. 

So, okay maybe not quite as loud as Krakatoa (315 dBs), but still, you cross a drunk kazoo band on steroids with any of the above, and you’re not far from ear-splitting and head-bending accuracy.

Especially when said noise comes via a firehose of doomsaying, utopia-proclaiming, recipe-providing, hire-me-hoping, trend-chasing, jargon-lacing, faux and factual posts, stories, screeds, and, well, please.

Except for one except.  

Because, while a whole lot of the “lookee what I made with AI” pretense mostly demonstrates a Jenga-like willingness to stack cringe on cringe, there’s one relevant area where clarity tells us there’s far more signal than noise.

Search.

Or rather, as the technology writer Shelly Palmer calls it: “the transition from SEO to AEO" — turning your device from search engine to AI-powered “answer machine.”

The adoptive curve, even pre-Google's “100 new products in 156 minutes” launch-a-thon, was stellar — estimated at 95 million Americans switching to AI-search by 2027.

Betcha that's off by an order of magnitude.  

After all, Google is already providing an AI summary as a way to condition the market.  And even though Palmer points out that different would-be AI market dominators are taking different pathways to monetize, the transition itself is irreversible.

No need to see around corners to grok how this will impact the online ecosystem. As David Manin, one of the best marketing thinkers I’ve worked for puts it: we’re shifting from “navigation to summarization.” 

Then: I want info, and Google refers me to websites where I can see for myself.

Now(ish):  I want info, or a recco, or advice and Google or OpenAI or Perplexity, or Microsoft, or anyone with silicon in their DNA and a GPU to call home summarizes what’s out there.

No point, no click.

This, of course, is a spectacular freakout for companies reliant on the status quo. Especially since it’s tantamount to disintermediating a brand’s ability to take over the post-click conversation.

All of which leads to an irony-dripping result:  AI, likely the most profound manifestation of digital thinking to date, winds up rejiggering the balance of power between brand and response.

All because AI is looking at the generalized web, not granular behavior data.

Thus—

Hello attention. Hello awareness. Hello Interest. Hello desire.

And hello > signal, < noise, along with blessedly mo’ better creative.