Latest / Found in AI: AI Search Visibility, SEO, & GEO / Google’s Fastest Spam Update Ever, OpenAI Kills Sora & Pivots to Shopping, and What 81K People Want from AI

Transcript

Google’s Fastest Spam Update Ever, OpenAI Kills Sora & Pivots to Shopping, and What 81K People Want from AI · Found in AI: AI Search Visibility, SEO, & GEO

• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome back to another edition of Founded AI.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Today is Thursday, March 26th, and we have a back episode today.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm Cassie Clark.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a fractional content strategist and an AI search optimization expert.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: You were listening to Founded AI, a show dedicated to helping marketers and founders learn AI search and GEO strategies so we don't get left behind in this new wave of user search behavior.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And because today is Thursday, we have some stories that we need to cover.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: First, Google dropped a spam update that rolled out faster than anything we've ever seen, maybe even ever.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then OpenAI completely overhauled how shopping works inside ChatGPT, and they also killed off Sora, its AI video app.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got a one more quick thing at the end that I think is interesting and maybe worth your time.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I still have a cold, I still sound a little bit like a goose.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't hear it, but I feel like I do.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it anyway.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: On March 24th, Google rolled out the March 2026 spam update.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the wild part about all of this.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: It took just 19 hours and 30-ish minutes.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let me put that into context for you.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: The August 2025 spam update took 27 days.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: The December 2024 update took seven days, and this one, well, it was just under 20 hours.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is the fastest confirmed spam update in Google search status dashboard history.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Google called this a quote, normal spam update.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: No new spam policy categories were announced.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's no companion blog posts about it so far, no new rules.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: This wasn't a March 2024 situation where they introduced things like site reputation abuse, expired domain abuse, and scaled content abuse as new policy categories.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: This was spam brain getting sharper at catching what's already against those rules.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for those of you who are newer to this, spam brain is Google's AI-based spam prevention system.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's the thing that identifies sites violating Google's spam policies.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So things like cloaking, link spam, doorway pages, hidden text, keyword stuffing, scaled content abuse, all of things like that.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, when Google says spam update, they're telling us that spam brain just leveled up.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean for the rest of us, the ones not spamming Google?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're creating original, well-structured, clearly authored content, this update probably didn't touch you.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: According to search engine roundtables Barry Schwartz, who spoke to Google, this update did not link to target did not target link spam or the site reputation abuse policy.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: But here's why I think the speed about all of this matters just a bit.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that this rolled out in under 20 hours tells us Google is getting faster and more precise with enforcement.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And when enforcement gets faster, the window for getting away with low quality manipulative content that we talked about a lot last week, the window gets a little bit smaller.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you're following the FSA framework, freshness, structure, and authority, you're already building the kind of content that doesn't get caught up in these nets.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Structure keeps your content clean and extractable.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Authority signals that you're a real brand with real expertise.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Freshness, it just ensures that your content doesn't get snagged or look abandoned.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: None of that is spam, all of it is strategy.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the takeaway here with this update is if you saw rankings drop on March 24th or 25th, check your Search Console data.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Go review those Google spam policies.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'll link them in the show notes.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if your content is clean, don't panic.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Keep building.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Spam updates, target violations, they're not quality reassessments.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: At least this one wasn't.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the core updates are for.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's talk about Open AI because my goodness gracious, have they had a big week already?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are three stories that I want to talk about.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: The through line matters a little bit more than the headlines, I think.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: They all point kind of in the same direction, so let me talk you through it.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Story number one: instant checkout is dead.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: I hate claiming anything is dead.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: We've heard SEO is dead for eons.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: We know that isn't true, but instant checkout, it's officially in the grave.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Remember back in October when Walmart and OpenAI announced their big partnership?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the idea was that shoppers could buy things directly inside Chat GPT using a feature called Instant Checkout.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: OpenAI was it they built it with Stripe through what they call the Identic Commerce Protocol.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was supposed to be the next big thing in AI commerce.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it didn't work.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart's EVP of product and design, Daniel Danker, he went on the record saying that the conversion rates inside Chat GPT were roughly three times lower than transactions completed on Walmart's own website.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: He called the experience quote unsatisfying, end quote.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a small thing here.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart was the flagship launch partner for this feature.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: If it doesn't work out for Walmart, an absolute giant in the industry, is a pretty strong signal that in-chat checkout is not ready for prime time.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: The issues were real and they included things like limited product selection months after the launch, product data that wasn't accurate or up to date, no multi-item cards, no loyalty program integration.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: The interface just created more friction instead of removing it, which I think was the whole goal for all this.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So Walmart pulled the plug, naturally.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And OpenAI announced that instant checkout didn't offer the flexibility they were aiming for.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: So this one did not go anywhere.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Story number two is the pivot to product discovery, which I don't think anyone is really surprised about here.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where it gets interesting for brands because instead of doubling down on checkout, OpenAI is pivoting ChatGPT into a product discovery layer.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: As of this week, ChatGPT users can browse products visually.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: They can compare options side by side with the prices, reviews, and features right there.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: They can upload images to find similar items, and then they can refine everything through res sorry, let me try again.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: They can refine their results through natural language conversation.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Major retails are already integrated into this.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, Lowe's, Best Buy, Home Depot, Wayfair.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Shopify merchants get in on this too, they are already connected through the Shopify catalog, and that means that millions of smaller merchants are discoverable inside of ChatGPT as well.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart, they're not gone.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: They're just doing it their own way now.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart has embedded its own AI chatbot called Sparky directly inside ChatGPT.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Users log into their Walmart account, their cart sinks across Walmart's website, the mobile app, and ChatGPT, and the actual checkout happens entirely on Walmart's infrastructure.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Early data suggests that Sparky inside ChatGPT is converting at about 70% of Walmart.com's rate.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's way better than instant checkout ever managed.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And there are reports that a similar integration is coming to Google's Gemini next month.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what all of this kind of reveals.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the bigger pattern of all of this.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: These retailers are saying we want the distribution, but we're keeping the transaction.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Shopify confirms that they won't support native checkout inside ChatGPT anymore either.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: They'll roll out, um, they'll they'll roll out, they'll route the purchases back to merchant storefronts.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Etsy is building a dedicated Chat GPT app to maintain control over its shopping experience.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So these retailers they want to tap into Chat GPT's 700 million plus user base, but they're not handing over that customer relationship.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: For marketers, here's the thing to pay attention to.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Chat GPT is becoming that product discovery engine.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a store, it's just a discovery layer.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a brand, how your products show up in that conversational discovery experience is starting to matter a whole heck of a lot.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly why entity building, clear product positioning, and structured content aren't just nice to have.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: They're how you get surfaced when someone asks Chat GPT, find me the best running shoes for under$100.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: If your brand's entity isn't clear and consistent, you're invisible in that moment.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, story three, because it happened on the same day as that shopping announcement.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Quick recap if you missed the Sora saga, it launched in September, it immediately went viral, hit the top of the app store.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: People were making AI videos of everything, including those copyrighted characters and public figures, which caused an absolute firestorm.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Disney even signed a billion-dollar licensing deal to bring their characters into the platform.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: But that Disney deal, again, I hate to claim anything is dead, but the Disney deal is over.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: No money ever exchanged hands.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of it.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: OpenAI said that they need to make the trade-offs on products with high compute cost.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sora was burning through GPU resources like crazy.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Downloads had dropped significantly from their peak.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: In the app, and this might be the saddest part of all of this, the app only generated$2.1 million in its lifetime from in-app purchases.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for a company that's valued at$730 billion, a company that's also preparing for an IPO, those numbers do not justify the compute spend, especially when they're competing with anthropic for enterprise AI, and Google with literally everything else.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the through line across all these stories, and why I'm telling you about them, OpenAI is consolidating.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're cutting out what doesn't generate revenue.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So Sora, Insta checkout, all of those things are gone.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And they're doubling down on what does or could, which is product discovery, enterprise tools, and the chat GPT platform as a whole.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is a company narrowing its focus ahead of going public.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: For us, as marketers and founders thinking about AI search and AI visibility, the product discovery is pivot is a thing to watch.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Chat GPT isn't trying to be Amazon.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's trying to be the layer before Amazon, the place where people figure out what to buy and where to get the go get the thing.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's a visibility plate, it's an entity plate, and it's our territory, and we need to be paying attention to it.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, before I let you go, last week Anthropic, the company behind Claude, published something that I think is interesting and I want to tell you about it.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: They used an AI-powered interviewer to conduct over 80,000 qualitative interviews with CLAD users across 159 countries in 70 languages.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: They believe it's the largest and most multilingual qualitative study ever conducted.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: The findings I think are genuinely fascinating.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: When asked what they most wanted from AI, the number one answer wasn't just make me faster.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: The users said it was will help me do more meaningful work.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: About 19% wanted professional excellence.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's not just speed, but also the ability to focus on higher level thinking while AI handles the routine.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Another 14% wanted personal transformation.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: 11% of these users, they just want their time back.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Time to spend with family, to pursue those hobbies, to take a nap, to rest.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: They just want their time back.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: 81% of them said AI had already taken a meaningful step toward their vision.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the most common answer of that was productivity and cognitive partnership.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So using AI as a thinking partner, not just a task doer.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what stood out to me though.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Anthropic found that hope and fear didn't divide people into separate camps.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a separate camp for those that are hopeful about AI, there's not a separate camp for those that are shaking with fear of it.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: They coexist in the same person.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: So someone who loves AI for emotional support is three times more likely to also fear becoming dependent on it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, the people who save time also worry about the treadmill speeding up.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think this mirrors exactly what a lot of us marketers are feeling.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm seeing this conversation on LinkedIn almost daily, sometimes multiple times a day.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: We are excited about what AI can do for our strategies and our workflows.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're also watching it reshape the ground directly underneath our feet, and that's a little scary.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Both things are true at the same time.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'll link to the study in the show notes.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think reading that is worth your time.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's just interesting to see how other people across the entire globe are thinking about AI adoption.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, quick recap.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Google's March 2026 spam update rolled out and completed in under 20 hours, fast as ever.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Spam brain got sharper.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: If your content is clean, you're probably fine.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: If not, that window is shrinking.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: We need to do something about it.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: OpenAI killed off instant checkout.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: They pivoted ChatGPT to product discovery.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: They also shut down Sora.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: So they're consolidating hard ahead of their IPO.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: For marketers, the product discovery plate is where the opportunity lives in all of this.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: We do need to keep our eyeballs on that one.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, Anthropic reminded us that the humans behind the AI usage data are more nuanced than the headlines suggest.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hope and fear aren't opposite sides.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: They are the same side of the same coin.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: I will keep tracking all of this as it unfolds.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Each week, AI Search is changing.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: We all know this by now.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can blink and miss something.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'll keep tracking it all.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode helped you make sense of the noise, hit subscribe.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd love it if you'd be so kind as to leave a review.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: I would love you forever.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Also, if you're trying to figure out how your brand fits into AI Search, or if we're going to start with your strategy, you know where to find me.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Head over to CassieClarkmarketing.com to get started with your AI Search Visibility Audit.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or there's a little button, you can chat about it first.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, I will see you in the next episode.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, stay visible.