The Near Memo
Exploring the big stories for the week at the intersection of local business & marketing across the spectrum of search, social and commerce. With Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal & David Mihm.
The Near Memo
Google Already Knows Everything About You — And Their New AI Features Make It Worse
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Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal & David Mihm
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Season 4
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Episode 19
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Google just revealed the future of Search at Google I/O and Google Marketing Live — and it’s far more personal, predictive, and invasive than most people realize.
In this episode of Near Memo, Mike Blumenthal and Greg Sterling break down:
- A massive fake Google Business Profile fraud case involving 15,000 fake listings and $79 million in alleged fraud
- How Google already infers your income, politics, preferences, and buying habits — even WITHOUT opting into “Personal Intelligence”
- The rise of AI-native advertising formats
- Why AI Mode may fundamentally reshape search, local discovery, Google Maps, and online commerce
- How Google’s ecosystem strategy could create unprecedented user lock-in
They also discuss:
- AI-powered personalization
- Google’s “good enough” AI strategy
- AI agents and transactional search
- Why antitrust rulings may have changed nothing
- The future of ads inside AI search experiences
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