> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hypertext.fyi/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The last click - URL: https://hypertext.fyi/the-last-click/ - Published: 2026-07-25T07:22:11.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-25T07:22:11.000Z - Author: Romain Dillet *Hi everyone, Paris is such a nice city during that time of the year, when temperatures are OK. I hope you’re enjoying this July week just like I am! I’d like to thank* [*Box*](https://blog.box.com/SAI26-agentic-ai-is-here?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=emeapaidinfluencer&utm%5Ftheme=ai&utm%5Fcampaign=FY27Q2SEAI%5FRomainDillet%5F2&utm%5Fkeyword=July) *once again for supporting Hypertext. Feel free to share this email with a friend, it really helps 💌* [*Sign up here*](https://hypertext.fyi/)*.* ### Google Zero comes to Europe While everyone is busy talking about [Kimi K3](https://tomtunguz.com/open-models-tack-toward-the-frontier/?ref=hypertext.fyi), the new AI model from Moonshot AI, I thought it would be nice to offer some counter-programming. In television, counter-programming means airing something completely different from whatever everyone else is watching. A major football match is happening and your competitor is broadcasting it? Maybe it’s time to re-air [Dirty Dancing](https://www.arte.tv/videos/127265-000-A/dirty-dancing/?ref=hypertext.fyi). So I wanted to talk about “Google Zero”. In 2024, The Verge’s Nilay Patel [coined this term](https://www.theverge.com/24167865/google-zero-search-crash-housefresh-ai-overviews-traffic-data-audience?ref=hypertext.fyi) to talk about the slow erosion of web traffic coming from Google search results. He warned that publishers should prepare themselves for a future when Google-sourced traffic goes down to zero. This might come as a surprise for many Europeans as it’s hard to understand how much Google has changed over the past few years from our point of view. People don’t see the same Google experience depending on where they live. In the US, for most queries, Google has replaced the traditional “blue links” result page with a full-on AI-generated answer that looks more like ChatGPT than a traditional search engine. In most of Europe, Google has displayed an “AI Overview” above the search results since 2024\. It’s a short AI-generated answer that could be enough for basic questions. If you want more, you can always scroll down and see links. As for France? Until Tuesday, users in France still got the traditional list of blue links when they searched for something. Google had to delay AI Overviews in the country because the company had been concerned with neighboring rights and publisher compensations. On Wednesday, Google launched AI Overviews in France. Welcome to 2024 Google. Coming back to Google Zero, with AI Overviews (and the full-on AI Mode in the US), if you want to know what happened during today’s *Tour de France* stage, chances are you’re going to read the summary on Google and close the tab. In that scenario, newspapers and content farms get zero page view. SPONSORED by Box [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7a/c5/7ac55220-8b80-4689-92ef-f10f1b9baf70/content/images/2026/07/Box---State-of-AI-Report.png)](https://blog.box.com/SAI26-agentic-ai-is-here?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=emeapaidinfluencer&utm%5Ftheme=ai&utm%5Fcampaign=FY27Q2SEAI%5FRomainDillet%5F2&utm%5Fkeyword=July) Box’s State of AI report is here. Grounded in a global survey of 1,640 IT decision-makers, the report reveals that security and compliance remain paramount, with 49% of organisations having already experienced an AI-related data exposure incident. [Read the full report](https://blog.box.com/SAI26-agentic-ai-is-here?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=emeapaidinfluencer&utm%5Ftheme=ai&utm%5Fcampaign=FY27Q2SEAI%5FRomainDillet%5F2&utm%5Fkeyword=July) to discover how organisations are establishing a governed, secure content layer to achieve trusted automation without increasing risk. [Learn more ](https://blog.box.com/SAI26-agentic-ai-is-here?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=emeapaidinfluencer&utm%5Ftheme=ai&utm%5Fcampaign=FY27Q2SEAI%5FRomainDillet%5F2&utm%5Fkeyword=July) This week, my former colleague Kate Conger wrote a deep dive on Google Zero for [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/technology/google-ai-open-web.html?ref=hypertext.fyi). And the metrics are quite telling. A [Growth Memo study](https://www.growth-memo.com/p/what-our-ai-mode-user-behavior-study?ref=hypertext.fyi) found that average Google users don’t leave Google’s AI Mode in 75% of sessions. No click needed. A Google spokesperson said the metric is inaccurate but didn’t provide another one. That usually suggests the company disagrees with how the number was calculated more than the story it tells. They don’t have a counter-narrative story (maybe it’s 74% instead of 75% for all we know). The important point is that users are increasingly staying inside Google. Cloudflare has noticed the same shift in its own numbers. The company [shared](https://blog.cloudflare.com/agentic-internet-bot-report/?ref=hypertext.fyi) that more than 50% of web traffic now comes from web robots. These bots historically crawled the web to build search indexes. Now, bots are mostly triggered by conversations with AI chatbots, or for AI model training purposes. Again, bots are now the main users of the web, not humans. Another important metric, Cloudflare says that human traffic to finance, publishing and retail dropped nearly 40% in less than a year. As a result, according to the [Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/business/media/google-search-publishers-ai-content-0fb06e41?st=fwYn9L&ref=hypertext.fyi), USA Today, Politico, the Economist, People Inc., Reuters and Reddit are all considering shutting off access to their content for AI use. Google is walking a fine line here. AI-generated answers are only useful if they are thorough. If companies start opting out of AI usage, they’ll have to replace source material with other websites to maintain quality. But the bigger threat comes from Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure company that currently handles traffic for 20% the web. Cloudflare wants to act as a gatekeeper. Starting on September 15, 2026, [the company will ask](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/01/cloudflares-new-policy-pushes-ai-companies-to-pay-for-publishers-content/?ref=hypertext.fyi) AI bot farmers to pay content publishers (and Cloudflare, of course) for content reuse. Otherwise, they won’t be able to access that content. So the open web is becoming a wholesale market where Google, Cloudflare (and other AI companies) are bargaining… Again, this is just the consequence of turning on AI Mode in the US. Imagine what’s going to happen once Google rolls out AI Mode globally. As a closing remark, that’s why you’re receiving this email in your inbox. I believe the email inbox is one of the last remaining AI-proof reading surfaces. You build a direct relationship with readers. If they like what they read, they’ll open the next one. Building an audience for an email newsletter takes longer, but I believe it’s the right long-term bet. So thank you for subscribing. Have a good day ☀️ Romain ****Hypertext** is the smart briefing on the future of European tech. Sign up below. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup.