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Generative ai will impact online consumer habits across a wide range of subsectors, including digital advertising, e-commerce, cloud computing, online travel, entertainment, edtech, and online dating. , according to an in-depth analysis by Goldman Sachs.
Initially, large-scale cloud providers could benefit the most beneficial for widespread adoption of ai among consumers.
“Over the next two years, we estimate that capital expenditure intensity will increase for the major hyperscalers, AWS (NASDAQ: AMZN), Goal (NASDAQ: GOAL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Total capital spending will increase from $84 billion (17% of total revenue) in 2023 to $140 billion (22% of total revenue) in 2025, as hyperscalers remain opportunistic and seek meet customers' higher-performance computing needs,” according to the report. “Generative ai, Part VI: Examining the Consumer Internet Landscape.”
“The return profile of these investments will take shape over time, but in our view, cloud providers are direct near-term beneficiaries of the shift to ai as they generate revenue from these workloads,” the report said.
Goldman Sachs expects an Internet powered by generative ai to change the way consumers interact in a wide variety of online environments, especially with the emergence of more competent ai assistants.
“Longer term, we see the potential for new device form factors (AR/VR glasses and headsets, other wearables) and the integration of ai assistants into these devices to complement or replace mobile devices as the primary access point to the Internet (similar to mobile devices replacing PCs),” according to Goldman Sachs.
It is also expected to create new monetization models. For example, generative ai tools could expand the potential of the creator economy. Data licensing for building models should also grow, as should the Google-Reddit (RDDT) deal. Offering premium ai features is another revenue stream.
Online shopping patterns will also change. Browsing and manually scrolling through products will largely be replaced by ai assistants or algorithms that channel shoppers directly to specific items.
“Providers of content, goods, services, etc. may lose their direct relationship with consumers as the discovery process is outsourced to ai,” the report concludes.
Several companies have already launched generative ai shopping assistants, including amazon’s Rufus, Etsy’s (ETSY) Gift Mode, eBay’s (EBAY) Magical Listings, and Instacart’s (CART) Ask Instacart.
Search behaviors will also change with the rise of ai assistants and ai-integrated apps.
“While it is too early to predict the long-term evolution of search, we believe Google is well positioned to capitalize on this early shift toward ai, given competitive advantages around existing scale of users and publishers, unique data, ai capabilities and infrastructure,” according to the report.
The introduction of ai-assisted tutors is already disrupting learning platforms like Chegg (CHGG) and Duolingo (DUOL).
Finally, the report finds that online dating apps could also undergo radical transformations from generative ai. Examples include generative ai: writing pick-up lines or conversations, creating dating profiles, acting as dating coaches, and even writing break-up texts.
