When Google started putting ads at the top of their search results that looks exactly like the organic search results (only differentiated with a tiny "Ad" label) is when they truly lost me.
Everything up until that point I could attribute to ignorance and laziness instead of malice. But at some point somebody at Google suggested that a new way to drive ad clicks could be to confuse and trick their users, and everybody else in the room nodded along.
A low point for sure, but given a pass because the ads are meant to be relevant to the search. In many cases the ad links would satisfy the search intent. Unlike youtube videos which put ads for Big Macs and other horrible things on random videos.
But why pretend ads won't infect "ChatAI" services:
User: "Find and read me a nostalgic poem from the 19th century"....
[processing]....
ChatAI: "Introducing the Chicken Mince Big Mac with Super Special Sauce Combo Deluxe Mega Pack! For a limited time only".....
"He is not here; but far away
The noise of life begins again,
And ghastly thro’ the drizzling rain
On the bald street breaks the blank day..."
On most porn sites, you don't have autoplay forced up your throat. They also have a much better recommendation system, that doesn't recommend you completely irrelevant or sponsored content.
Everything up until that point I could attribute to ignorance and laziness instead of malice. But at some point somebody at Google suggested that a new way to drive ad clicks could be to confuse and trick their users, and everybody else in the room nodded along.