Jan 23 2025
How Use WordPress Multisite To Create a Website Subdirectory via @sejournal, @atuljindal01

WordPress Multisite is a feature for managing the structure and multiple sites from a single WordPress installation.

In this article, I’ll share the step-by-step approach to creating a new WordPress website or converting an existing WordPress website into a WordPress Multisite.

But before that, let’s understand the basics of WordPress Multisite.

What Is WordPress Multisite?

WordPress Multisite enables you to create and run multiple websites on the same WordPress installation. It is like having one central hub to control an entire network of sites.

Websites on a Multisite network share core files and databases, making it easy for network administrators to manage all websites from one WordPress user account.

The reason why businesses opt for Multisite is because it helps save both time and money. Plus, it takes less server space than separate installations.

To know WordPress Multisite better, let’s look at some of its significant features:

  • Centralized management: Allows you to control all your websites from one single dashboard.
  • Shared themes and plugins: Use your website anywhere after you install these shared themes and plugins.
  • User management: Enables you to create super admins to oversee the entire network.
  • Domain mapping: Facilitates you assigning unique domains to each site in your network.

How Does WordPress Multisite Work?

To understand the functionality of WordPress Multisite, you need to understand WordPress user roles and how they differ. By default, a standard WordPress site has five user roles:

  • Administrator (site Admin).
  • Editor.
  • Author.
  • Contributor.
  • Subscriber.

However, for WordPress Multisite, there is one more user role called super admin. There are six user roles for WordPress Multisite:

  • Super Admin (own/control – all sites of multisite network).
  • Administrator (site Admin) – controls one website of the network.
  • Editor.
  • Author.
  • Contributor.
  • Subscriber.

For a regular WordPress website, the site admin has administrative access to only one website. As there is just one website on the network, the admin controls only that website.

Site admins can add users, but only to the websites they administer. They cannot install WordPress plugins or themes, but they can choose which ones to activate or deactivate.

However, in WordPress Multisite, the super admin has access to more than one website.

The super admin, also known as the network admin, controls a whole network of websites and has activated Multisite initially.

They also have access to every website’s network admin setting and dashboard within the network. Super admins can also map custom domains.

Pros And Cons

After weighing the pros and cons of WordPress Multisite, it will become easy for you to decide if it aligns with your specific needs and technical expertise.

The Pros

  • Easy To Manage: With Multisite installation, you can control multiple sites from one admin panel. There is no need to switch and log each site separately.
  • Efficient Updates: You can apply core updates, plugin updates, and theme changes across all your websites with just a few clicks.
  • Easier Delegation: WordPress Multisite enables you to assign site-level admins to network sites to make it easy to share site management tasks.
  • Scalability: The best part about Multisite websites is that you can scale it as your business grows, as unlimited WP subsites are allowed under one URL. It will also enable you to delete the old ones that are not required without impacting the rest of the network.
  • Targeting Marketing And Branding: Multisite websites let you create tailored experiences for different geographic regions, product categories, and customer segments. For instance, if you’re doing SEO and link building, you can promote content in a much more geographically or niche-relevant way.
  • Greater Control: When you use multisite, you have greater control over using plugins and themes for each site. This lessens the risk of bad plugins or themes, which can compromise the security or performance of the entire network.
  • SEO-Friendly: WordPress multisite can help with SEO as well. You can properly structure your website and content for languages, locations, topics, products/services, etc. Having a well-structured website helps Google to understand your website easily. Also, you can track and understand which part of the site is performing well (even for Google algorithmic updates) and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.

The Cons

Here are some of the drawbacks of using multisite:

  • Performance Issues: One of the major challenges with Multisite is that users may face performance issues in situations when one site gets adversely impacted; it affects the other sites as well.
  • Steep Learning Curve: Multisite has its own set of complexities. If you are not a technical expert, the initial setup and management can be quite challenging for you.
  • Limited Plugin Compatibility: Not all plugins are compatible with a Multisite setup, which can limit your options. In fact, various premium plugins may require a license per subsite, which can lead to an increase in cost.
  • Backup And Migration Challenges: Migrations can be challenging as every site shares one database. Migrating one site off your network is very challenging; therefore, ensure that you have a solid backup strategy in place.

Use Cases: When To Use A WordPress Multisite

Here are some use cases when using a WordPress Multisite is a good idea:

Franchise Businesses

If you have a franchise business, opting for Multisite can be one of the best decisions.

Every franchise will get a separate website, but you will have control over the look and functionality of all of them.

Subway, McDonalds, Dominos, and many other brands use this to give every location a unique online presence while ensuring brand consistency.

Learning Management System (LMS) Websites

Imagine a university where every department needs its own website. Using Multisite, offers each department its own space while maintaining brand consistency and centralized management.

LMS websites are created for various schools and universities, but they have a similar structure and functionality.

Multi-Language Websites

WordPress Multisite can be a great idea for businesses that target a global audience. It also offers a solution for managing multiple language versions of a website.

Every language gets its own site, which makes it easier to manage translations and localized content.

Business Or Ecommerce Sites

Using WordPress Multisite is a perfect option for ecommerce sites. It creates different versions of the same service or product website.

For instance, you can create different sites on the same product line, accounting for differences in language and culture. Furthermore, you can delegate network administrator control to business representatives in every region.

Social Commerce Integration

WordPress Multisite can be a powerful tool for businesses looking to leverage social commerce.

By creating separate subsites for different product categories or target audiences, businesses can tailor their offerings and marketing messages to specific demographics.

Additionally, plugins can be integrated to allow for direct product sales from social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, creating a seamless shopping experience for customers.

A Multisite installation could be useful for government sites, SaaS businesses, educational organizations, magazines and media publications, ecommerce, etc., or simply where you want to create a well-structured website with an easy approach.

When Using A WordPress Multisite Is Not Recommended

Here are some of the use cases that explain when you should think twice about using WordPress Multisite capability:

1. Have Different Website Requirements

WordPress Multisite is not recommended for websites with varied functionalities, structures, plugins, or purposes.

For example, if you have three types of businesses that provide healthcare, LMS, and SaaS services, Multisite won’t help.

2. Can’t Afford Sufficient Hosting

WordPress Multisite is resource-intensive, especially when your business grows.

It requires substantial hosting plans, as inadequate hosting can lead to slow load times across all your sites. To avoid this, you should ensure that you have a WordPress Multisite optimized hosting for your website.

3. Security Risks

All the websites in a multisite network share a single database, potentially compromising data isolation. This shared structure might also not comply with industry-specific regulations.

Thus, if you have security concerns, it might not be an ideal choice for you.

4. Don’t Have A Permanent Programmer

If you run a small company without a dedicated programmer or IT team, opting for Multisite might get you in more trouble than it’s worth.

Multisite demands more technical know-how to set up and maintain, so if any issues arise, they will be challenging to diagnose and fix without expert help.

Steps To Create A WordPress Multisite

Before you start creating a WordPress Multisite, you need to choose a domain structure for Multisite – either a subdomain or subfolder structure.

Example of Sub-domain structure:
blog.website.com/
uk.website.com/
Examples of Sub-folder structure:
website.com/blog/
website.com/uk/

WordPress Multisite also allows using a different domain for each website of the network. For example, you can use the website.us domain for the USA-targeting website and website.ca for the Canada website.

You can follow this guide to set up domain mapping for your WordPress website.

Once you have these essentials, you can start with the process of creating a WordPress Multisite.

Step 1: Enable The WordPress Multisite Network Feature

To enable this, you need to install a new WordPress as you normally do. You need to enable a WordPress Multisite network feature on an existing WordPress website if you want to convert it into a Multisite.

But before that, you should completely back up your website.

Follow these steps to enable the Multisite feature:

  1. Set up an FTP connection to your website or Cpanel > file manager and edit the wp-config.php file.
  2. Navigate to the wp-config.php file. Scroll down to the bottom and add this code before the /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */. line:
/* Multisite */ 
define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );

Save the changes and close the wp-config.php file.

Step 2: Setting Up The Multisite Network

deactivate-plugins-bulk-Screenshot from WordPress, December 2024

Before doing anything, you need to deactivate all of your plugins to complete the process.

Then go to Tools > Network Setup page.

create-network multisite Screenshot from WordPress, December 2024

Now, you should choose between subdomains (e.g., site1.yourdomain.com) or subdirectories (e.g., yourdomain.com/site1) for the Multisite structure. Then Click “Install.”

Now, WordPress will show you some code snippets to add to your website’s wp-config.php and .htaccess files.

wp multisite enable-networkScreenshot from WordPress, December 2024

Step 3: Edit The wp-config.php And .htaccess Files

You need to edit the wp-config.php file and add the code just below the line (code) you added before.

Then, edit the .htaccess file and replace the existing code with the new code of the WordPress Multisite installation.

Don’t forget to save the changes.

After finishing it, you need to re-login to your website to access the Multisite network.

Step 4: Configure Network Settings

After logging in to your website, go to Network Dashboard to add new sites and change network settings. For this, go to My Sites > Network Admin > Dashboard.

multisite network-dashboardScreenshot from WordPress, December 2024

Settings and other things are the same as those for the normal WordPress installation.

It’s done. This is how you can create your first site in your Multisite network.

If you want to convert your existing website into a Multisite, then here are the steps.

How To Convert An Existing Site To Multisite?

By default, WordPress allows you to convert an existing WordPress site into a Multisite sub-domain only.

If you want to convert a WordPress Subdomain Multisite, then you can follow the above-mentioned steps.

But if you want to convert an existing site into a Multisite Subfolder, then follow these steps:

(Pro tip: Take a complete website backup before starting the process.)

Step 1: Enable The WordPress Multisite Network Feature

You need to edit the wp-config.php file and add this code:

/* Multisite */ 
define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );

Before the line: /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

Step 2: Deactivate All Plugins

deactivate-plugins-bulk-Screenshot from WordPress, December 2024

To do this, go to Dashboard > Plugins. Then select all and deactivate them.

Step 3: Network Setup

You need to refresh the page to see changes.

Then, go to Appearance > Theme Editor > Theme Functions to edit the functions.php file, and add the following code at the end.

add_filter( 'allow_subdirectory_install', create_function( '', 'return true;' ) );

Save it.

Now, you can find and choose the subfolder option for your Multisite. To do this, go to Tools > Network setup.

create-network multisite Screenshot from WordPress, December 2024

Then, choose the Subfolders option, and click the Install button.

Step 4: Enable The Network

You need to add the code shown by WordPress to the wp-config.php and .htaccess files, as shown above in Step 3 of creating a new multisite.

Once you have done it, you can create your first subfolder site. For this:

add-new-sites wp multisiteScreenshot from WordPress, December 2024

Go to My Sites > Network Admin > Sites.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully converted your WordPress site to a Multisite.

WordPress Multisite FAQs

What is the difference between WordPress Multisite vs. managing separate installations?

Here are the major differences:

  • In separate installations, you have full control and customization for each site, whereas WordPress Multisite offers limited individual site customization.
  • WordPress Multisite has a centralized dashboard for all sites, whereas separate installations demand individual management for each site.
  • Multisites generally use server resources more efficiently; on the contrary, for separate installations, each site uses its own resources.

What are the best tips for managing WordPress Multisite?

Some of the best tips for managing WP multisite are:

  • Choose network-wide themes carefully.
  • Implement two-factor authentication.
  • Set up regular, automated backups of your entire network.

Wrapping Up

Setting up a WordPress Multisite network is like creating a digital theme park where visitors can effortlessly explore all your attractions.

Converting a WordPress site to a Multisite subdirectory is a powerful solution whether you are managing multiple brands, creating a network of niche sites, or simply planning for future growth.

Use this guide to create a WordPress Multisite for your business.

More Resources:

Featured Image: VectorMine/Shutterstock

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Jan 23 2025
Implementing responsible AI in the generative age

Many organizations have experimented with AI, but they haven’t always gotten the full value from their investments. A host of issues standing in the way center on the accuracy, fairness, and security of AI systems. In response, organizations are actively exploring the principles of responsible AI: the idea that AI systems must be fair, transparent, and beneficial to society for it to be widely adopted. 

When responsible AI is done right, it unlocks trust and therefore customer adoption of enterprise AI. According to the US National Institute of Standards and Technology the essential building blocks of AI trustworthiness include: 

  • Validity and reliability 
  • Safety
  • Security and resiliency 
  • Accountability and transparency 
  • Explainability and interpretability 
  • Privacy
  • Fairness with mitigation of harmful bias 
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

To investigate the current landscape of responsible AI across the enterprise, MIT Technology Review Insights surveyed 250 business leaders about how they’re implementing principles that ensure AI trustworthiness. The poll found that responsible AI is important to executives, with 87% of respondents rating it a high or medium priority for their organization.

A majority of respondents (76%) also say that responsible AI is a high or medium priority specifically for creating a competitive advantage. But relatively few have figured out how to turn these ideas into reality. We found that only 15% of those surveyed felt highly prepared to adopt effective responsible AI practices, despite the importance they placed on them. 

Putting responsible AI into practice in the age of generative AI requires a series of best practices that leading companies are adopting. These practices can include cataloging AI models and data and implementing governance controls. Companies may benefit from conducting rigorous assessments, testing, and audits for risk, security, and regulatory compliance. At the same time, they should also empower employees with training at scale and ultimately make responsible AI a leadership priority to ensure their change efforts stick. 

“We all know AI is the most influential change in technology that we’ve seen, but there’s a huge disconnect,” says Steven Hall, chief AI officer and president of EMEA at ISG, a global technology research and IT advisory firm. “Everybody understands how transformative AI is going to be and wants strong governance, but the operating model and the funding allocated to responsible AI are well below where they need to be given its criticality to the organization.” 

Download the full report.

This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff.

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Jan 23 2025
Charts: U.S. Small Business Trends Q4 2024

Small businesses are vital to the U.S. economy. Micro, small, and medium enterprises (up to 500 employees) generate 58% of jobs and 39% of the “value-added” economy, the portion beyond the cost of production. That’s according to an October 2024 report by McKinsey Global Institute titled “America’s small businesses: Time to think big.”

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Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) significantly influence certain U.S. industries. For instance, in the construction industry, MSMEs employ over 75% of the workforce and contribute more than 75% of the value added. Additionally, MSMEs represent more than half of the employment and value-added in professional services and accommodation and food services.

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Per the McKinsey report, since 2000 a substantial share of publicly traded companies with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more began as MSMEs. Small technology firms have achieved some of the most notable successes, with nearly a quarter of large public tech companies having originated as MSMEs over the last 25 years. Likewise, many of today’s major manufacturing firms trace their roots to small factories.

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McKinsey computed the opportunities for productivity improvements among U.S. businesses compared to other advanced economies and then allocated the opportunities by industry sector. Retail and wholesale trade, manufacturing, construction, and technology represented the top opportunities owing to their impact on the overall economy.

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Jan 22 2025
Google Expands AI Overviews In Circle To Search via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google is rolling out updates to the “Circle to Search” tool, making it more helpful for marketers, businesses, and Android users.

Circle to Search lets you circle, scribble, or tap on anything visible on your phone screen to instantly search the web without switching apps.

With expanded AI Overviews, the tool is better equipped to deliver useful insights—especially for visual searches.

AI Overviews Now Cover More Visual Searches

The most significant update is the expansion of AI Overviews to handle a broader range of visual search results.

You can circle objects like a trending product, a competitor’s ad, or a storefront logo to get an instant, AI-powered summary.

Screenshot from: blog.google/feed/circle-to-search-new-features/, January 2025..

For example, suppose you spot an interesting product in a social media post. In that case, you can circle it to generate an overview of the brand, pricing, related products, and links to explore further.

This makes it easier to research trends, analyze competitors, and stay on top of what resonates with audiences.

Navigational Searches

Google is improving Circle to Search to make it easier for you to find and use information. You can now quickly visit a URL, send an email, or call a phone number.

Circle to Search will recognize numbers, email addresses, and URLs on your screen so you can act with just one tap.

Why This Matters

Visual search can assist marketers with understanding consumer behavior and identifying opportunities.

Through Circle to Search, you can extract information from social media posts, competitor materials, or real-world items like event signage or product displays.

This access to insights can help with making data-driven decisions faster.

Availability

These new features are rolling out now for Android users.

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Jan 22 2025
Ask Maps Is Google Q&A’s AI Replacement: Here’s What It Means For Marketers

Google is starting to roll out an AI-based Q&A feature to Google Business Profiles (GBP) on Google Maps for mobile.

This feature will very likely replace Google Q&A, which has silently gone missing on some listings.

The “Ask Maps about this place” AI feature was first announced in late October 2024, along with a number of other Google Maps AI enhancements, but has not been widely available or visible.

At the time, Google also noted that “you’ll also see similar experiences in the coming months on Search – including AI-powered review summaries and the option to ask detailed questions about places.”

Currently, the feature is available on the Google Maps app, buried on the profile in the Overview tab, beneath the basic business NAP details and the review summaries.

How Does It Work?

Ask Maps allows users to input open-ended questions into a query box. While it offers and suggests pre-formed queries tailored to the business, users can also ask specific questions.

Pre-formed queries can differ significantly by business location (for multi-location businesses), with businesses sharing minimal overlap. And sometimes, similarly formulated questions might deliver slightly different answers.

The query field allows for compound questions. Although, the more you ask, the more likely you will be told that there isn’t enough information about this place to answer your question.

Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025

Ask Maps often, but not always, suggests six pre-formed queries – a kind of local version of People Also Ask – to help the searcher more quickly get their potential questions answered.

Some listings have no questions, and a few have two to four of these suggested queries.

These pre-formed queries vary by location, with even locations tied to the same brand sharing minimal overlap.

In looking at four or five different store locations, there were only a few of these questions that were duplicated.

Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025

We were curious about whether the review corpus or previous Q&A answers were used to generate these pre-formed queries.

We downloaded and analyzed reviews and Q&A content using N-grams, word clouds, and ChatGPT. We found virtually no correlation between the existing Google Q&A or review content and the pre-formed queries presented.

Obviously, a searcher can ask any question of the AI.

As mentioned, however, if Google does not have enough data from the listing attributes, reviews, the business website, or trusted third-party sites, the user will be told: “There’s not enough information about this place.”

Not Every Category

Unlike the soon-to-be legacy Q&A feature, Ask Maps excludes some business categories and is only available in U.S.-based locations.

In our review, the feature wasn’t present on profiles for most healthcare providers, counseling, social services, pregnancy care, and drug rehab centers, although we did find it on dentist profiles.

The feature was also not visible on highly distressed and spammy categories like moving companies, locksmiths, and garage door listings. It was available in categories that are less spam-filled, like HVAC, roofers, and electricians.

Profiles of businesses in legally regulated categories like marijuana dispensaries, tobacco, guns, or dating services did have the feature.

The primary category of the listing determines whether the feature appears or not.

YMCA locations in my area each have slightly different categories, and the one with social services as the primary category did not have Ask Maps, while all the others did.

Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025

Where Does The Information Come From?

Google says:

“All of these features are made possible thanks to Gemini’s powerful creation, reasoning and summarization capabilities — grounded in our trusted data about 250 million places around the world and insights from the Maps community.”

In answering Ask Maps questions, Google appears to rely first on content in the business profile, GBP reviews, and the business website before it will access third-party content.

When Google had images from GBP image uploads relevant to the answer, those were included as well.

While the source for these images, in the example we saw, was represented as the business website, the images all came from Google Business Profile.

Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025

Ask Maps will go out to third-party web sources if needed to answer a question, and the site is trusted.

In the following example, we asked about issues that customers had experienced with this dealership, and the response referenced Carfax.com and Facebook.

Oddly, Ask Maps is currently unable to answer product inventory questions even when Google clearly has the inventory uploaded to Merchant Center, and it shows elsewhere on the profile.

Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025

Reviews From The Web

It’s obvious that consumers value reviews, and Ask Maps gives them access to both summary of the worst and best of Google reviews, as well as reviews from around the web.

The query below, asking about Barbara Oliver Jewelry’s “rating around the internet,” surfaced the review summary (using Local schema) directly from her website with additional data from Facebook.

However, despite numerous attempts, it would not surface her Yelp reviews.

Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025

Your Website As Data Source

The following video demonstrates Ask Maps’ ability, in many situations, to answer questions that previously required a visit to a business website.

On the Barbara Oliver jewelry profile, we asked, “What’s involved in custom ring design?” and got back a 118-word answer that referenced multiple sections and pages from the Barbara Oliver website.

Google Q&A Deprecation 

Clearly, this feature is a major improvement upon Google Q&A, which rolled out in early 2018. Most Q&A answers are user-generated and often repetitive, contradictory, or inaccurate.

Initially, the feature was highly visible on the Business Profile in search, although it has moved down the page more recently.

A contributor in the Google support forums was recently told that the current Q&A feature is being deprecated.

As communicated in our previous email, the Q&A feature is no longer available to any of our users, regardless of their location. Additionally, there is no support link or method through which you can verify this information independently. Please note that this update aligns with Google’s new guidelines. As per these changes, profiles that are updated in accordance with the latest requirements will not have a Q & A option available.

This has yet to be formally confirmed by Google. But it makes sense given that Ask Maps, once it rolls out more widely and to search, does a significantly better job of answering questions than Q&A could ever hope to. Ask Maps does so by using a limited number of reliable sources.

At the moment, Ask Maps is U.S. only. In its current form, it probably violates EU DMA regulations and highlights the massive self-preferencing occurring with Google Local.

It’s, therefore, unlikely to come to Europe anytime soon. Although, it is likely to show up elsewhere soon.

Local Marketing Strategy Response

Google continues to move down the path of more dynamic AI-generated content on your Google Business Profile.

While this behavior changes dramatically by vertical, there is every reason not just to treat your profile as your new homepage but to up your game in that regard.

In a practical sense, it doesn’t really matter whether your leads come directly from Google or from your website as long as they are coming in. And when you can gain an edge by feeding Google, you should.

Website

As the example above demonstrates, Google answers user questions with substantial and meaningful responses.

My colleague David Mihm has long argued that your website content is perhaps best viewed as a feed for search and now AI engines.

You need to be sure that your site has a properly siloed structure and content.

The content must answer all important customer questions about your business. This includes not just what you do, but how and where and how well you do it.

It should show as well as tell, by providing imagery and video on top of text.

Reviews

Given the ability of tools like Ask Maps to summarize your reviews from both Google and from around the web, it’s more important than ever to both diversify your review content and highlight them on one of Ask Maps’ most trusted sources: your website.

Photographs

We have long championed original, high-quality photography (and video) on both your website and GBP.

It leads to increased engagement (a ranking signal) and increased conversions (the ultimate goal). And your photos need to be regularly updated at both places for maximum benefit.

There is no more economical way to get higher returns than great photographs and video.

Social Profiles

Google first looks at GBP data, then reviews, and then the business website. But if the question cannot be answered there, it will then start pulling in information from your social accounts.

Facebook and LinkedIn were common in our testing, and you should be sure that they are up-to-date and accurately reflect your products, services, and reputation.

Citations

Google has long relied on web references (a.k.a. citations) – non-linked branded mentions – from around the web to understand local entities.

This can be seen very clearly in the screen below, where we asked if the business owner supported local volunteer organizations.

Both a news article and the Facebook page for one of the organizations she works with were referenced.

This type of sourcing is also a great research tool to understand the types and sources of valuable citations for your business.

These types of searches should be done for your direct competitors as well to provide additional ideas on where you might be able to get these references.

Screenshot from Google Search, January 2025

The Future Of Local

The growing “zero-click” behaviors in Google Local inevitably lead to declining traffic for small business websites. These types of changes will continue unless the government steps in to regulate it as a monopoly.

For some sectors, like publishing, which depends on traffic for ad sales, this is a potential death knell – in local. However, traffic losses can often be replaced with more leads from GBP if you play Google’s game.

As frustrating as it is sometimes, we think that the game is still worth playing. The leads generated can be significant. But the types of content and signals Google needs these days to rank you well (branding, reviews, engagement, etc.), you should be doing regardless.

That game is increasingly verticalized on Google – or at least user behaviors are.

To really excel in this environment, you need to understand consumer behaviors in your specific vertical and tailor everything you do to address and satisfy them.

More Resources:

Featured Image: Darko 1981/Shutterstock

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Jan 22 2025
SEOs Are Recommending Structured Data For AI Search… Why? via @sejournal, @martinibuster

A post on LinkedIn questioned the idea that Schema.org structured data has an impact on what a large language model outputs. Apparently there are some SEOs who are recommending structured data to rank better in AI search engines.

Patrick Stox wrote the following post on LinkedIn:

“Did I miss something? Why do SEOs think schema markup will impact LLM output?”

Patrick said “LLM output” in the context of an SEO recommendation so it’s likely that it’s a reference to ChatGPT Search and other AI search engines. So do AI search engines get their data from structured data?

LLMs are trained on web text, books, government records, legal documents and other text data (as well as other forms of media, too) which is then used to produce summaries and answers but without plagiarizing the training data.  What that means is that it’s pointless to think that optimizing your web content will result in the LLM itself sending referrals to that website.

AI search engines are grounded on search indexes (and knowledge graphs) through Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). Search engine indexes themselves are created from crawled data, not Schema structured data.

Perplexity AI ranks web-crawled content using a modified version of PageRank on their search index, for example. Google and Bing crawl text data and do things like remove duplicate content, remove stop words, and other manipulation of the text extracted from the HTML, plus not every page has structured data on it.

In fact, Google only uses a fraction of the available Schema.org structured data for specific kinds of search experiences and rich results, which in turn limits the kind of structured data that publishers use.

Then there’s the fact that both Bing and Google’s crawlers render the HTML, identify the headers, footers and main content (from which they extract the text for ranking purposes). Why would they do that if they’re going to rely on Schema structured data, right?

The idea that it’s good to use Schema.org structured data to rank better in an AI search engine is not based on facts, it’s just fanciful speculation. Or it could be from a “game of telephone” effect where one person says something and then twenty people later it’s transformed into something completely different.

For example, Jono Alderson proposed that structured data could be a standard that AI search engines could use to understand the web better. He wasn’t saying that AI search engines currently use it, he was just proposing that AI search engines should consider adopting it and maybe that post got telephoned into a full-blown theory twenty SEOs later.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of unfounded ideas floating around in SEO circles. The other day I saw an SEO assert in social media that Google Local Search doesn’t use IP addresses in response to search “near me” search queries. All anyone had to do to test that idea is to sign into a VPN, choose a geographic location for their IP address and do a “near me” search query and they will see that the IP address used by the VPN influenced the “near me” search results.

Screenshot Of Near Me Query Influenced By IP Address

Google even publishes a support page that says they use IP address to personalize search results yet there are people who believe otherwise because some SEO did a correlation study and when questioned we’re back to someone bellowing that Google lies.

Will You Believe Your Lying Eyes?

Schema.Org Structured Data And AI Search Results

“SEOs” recommending that publishers use Schema.org structured data for LLM training data also makes no sense because training data isn’t cited in LLM output, just for output that is sourced from the web, which itself is sourced from a search index that’s from a crawler. As mentioned earlier, publishers only use a fraction of available Schema.org structured data because Google itself only uses a tiny fraction of it. So it makes no sense for an AI search engine to rely on structured data for their output.

Search marketing expert Christopher Shin (LinkedIn profile) commented:

“Thinking the same thing after reading your post Patrick. This is how I interpret it currently. I thought LLM’s typically do not generate responses from search engines serps but rather from data interpretation. Right? But schema data markup would be used by SER{s to show rich snippets etc. no? I think the key nuance with schema and LLMs is that search engines use schema for SERPs whereas LLM’s use data interpretation when it comes to how schema impacts LLM’s.”

People like Christopher Shin and Patrick Stox give me hope that pragmatic and sensible SEO is still fighting to get through the noise, Patrick’s LinkedIn post is proof of that.

Pragmatic SEO

The definition of pragmatic is doing things for sensible and realistic reasons and not on opinions that are based on incomplete information and conjecture.

Speaking as someone who’s been involved with SEO since virtually the birth of it, not thinking things through is why SEOs and publishers have traditionally wasted time with vaguely defined issues, spun their wheels on useless activities like superficial signals of EEAT and so on and so forth.  It’s truly dispiriting to point to documentation and official statements and get blown back with statements like, “Google lies.” That kind of attitude makes a person “want to holler.”

A little more pragmatic SEO please.

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Jan 22 2025
What Happens Next To The U.S. Vs. Google Antitrust Case? via @sejournal, @AlliBerry3

With the punishment for Google’s first search antitrust case expected to be delivered in August 2025, the looming question is what will happen now with a new U.S. President and a new set of Department of Justice (DOJ) appointees.

Early signs suggest the Trump administration will largely stay the course of the Biden administration when it comes to antitrust enforcement against large tech companies, including Google.

Their rationale is drastically different from that of the previous administration, but the recent nominations and appointments for the DOJ suggest that President Trump is serious about holding Google accountable, even if their preferred remedies may differ.

Before we get into it, let’s recap what has happened so far.

The U.S. Vs. Google Case

In August 2024, Federal Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated the U.S. antitrust law by maintaining an illegal monopoly through exclusive agreements it had with companies like Apple to be the world’s default search engine on smartphones and web browsers.

Additionally, Google was found guilty of monopolizing general search text advertising because Google was able to raise prices on search advertising products higher than what the government claimed would have been expected or possible in a fair market.

Potential Remedies For Google

The DOJ submitted two filings with their suggestions to remediate Google’s monopolistic actions.

Proposed remedies range from restrictions on deals that feature Google’s search engine as the default on browsers and devices all the way to a breakup of the company by forcing the sale of Google’s browser Chrome.

Other intriguing remedies that have been proposed include syndicating the Google search algorithm to competitors, forced licensing of ad feeds to competitors, and divesting the Android operating system.

The DOJ under Biden made it clear in their most recent filing on November 20, 2024, that divesting Chrome is their preferred option, along with the discontinuation of exclusive agreements with browsers and phone companies.

The implications of divesting Chrome are also the most wide-reaching – not only is Chrome used by nearly two-thirds of the world’s internet users, but we learned through this trial that click data from Chrome is used to train the search algorithms using Navboost, helping Google maintain its competitive edge.

Losing Chrome’s data would almost certainly guarantee a drastically different Google search engine.

Google filed its response to the DOJ, arguing that the proposed remedies are much wider reaching than what the case was about and that America’s global leadership position in tech could be hindered by this.

Instead, they proposed allowing exclusive agreements to be made with companies like Apple and Mozilla, but with the ability to set a different default search engine on different platforms and browsing modes.

It also proposed that Android device manufacturers could preload multiple search engines, as well as preload Google apps without Google Search or Chrome.

Both sides will return to court for the remedies litigation in May 2025, with a ruling expected to be delivered in August 2025.

What Happens Now

Back to the question at hand: What happens once Trump takes office?

The initial signals, including Trump’s nominations for key roles at the FTC and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, suggest the administration will continue to use a heavy hand against large tech companies facing antitrust troubles like Google. But, their solutions may differ from the current proposed remedies.

Trump’s Relevant Nominees

Trump has nominated several key individuals who will influence antitrust enforcement, particularly concerning Big Tech companies.

These appointments indicate that the crackdown on tech giants will likely continue, in effect, a surprising bipartisan effort. Trump’s key nominees include:

  • Gail Slater: Nominated to lead the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Slater has a background as a policy advisor to Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and experience in tech policy at the National Economic Council. If confirmed, she would inherit the antitrust case against Google.
  • Andrew N. Ferguson: Appointed as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Ferguson has expressed intentions to reassess the agency’s approach to mergers and acquisitions, which has been uncommonly strong against mergers and acquisitions, while still maintaining oversight of dominant tech platforms.
  • Mark Meador: Appointed as an FTC Commissioner, a role previously held by Ferguson, Meador is recognized for his pro-enforcement stance, especially regarding technology companies, in his previous work with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. His previous work includes drafting legislation aimed at addressing competitive practices in the tech industry.

While all three of these nominees are deeply rooted in the Republican party, they are all united in their pro-enforcement stances when it comes to Big Tech.

This is a departure from the typical Republican pro-business, anti-regulation position, signifying Trump’s seriousness in curbing the power of Google and other tech giants.

The Trump Administration’s Views On Google’s Antitrust Case

Trump’s disdain for Big Tech companies, including Google, has been consistent since his first presidency.

Why does he hate Google so much? A couple of reasons seem most likely:

  1. He has claimed the search engine is “rigged” because it presents negative stories about him.
  2. He sees weakening Big Tech companies as a way to promote “free speech” because of their misinformation moderation policies and claims the search results are biased against conservatives.

Despite this seemingly constant position against Google, President Trump has also suggested that breaking Google up may destroy the company rather than help promote fairness and competition.

He has also warned that breaking up Google may make the U.S. appear weaker to foreign powers because “China is afraid of Google.”

Elsewhere in the administration, Vice President Vance has previously called for the breakup of Google and praised the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission Chair, Lina Khan, for her aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement.

Whether they decide to take a stance that is pro-breaking Google up remains to be seen, but it appears that they will be taking office with a desire to strengthen competition in this market.

Final Thoughts

There is a lot of time between Trump taking office and the remedies litigation starting up again for the case against Google in May 2025.

The DOJ still needs to argue why they believe Google should be forced to sell Chrome, and if this is no longer the belief of the DOJ appointees, they will need to argue why other remedies make more sense.

It seems reasonable to assume, based on the appointees, that they will be taking some big swings at Google and arguing for the remedies that they believe would be most effective at enhancing competition.

If you are someone who believes action needs to be taken against Google, Trump’s current anti-Google stance may work in your favor regardless of whether you agree with his rationale for it.

More Resources:

Featured Image: PanuShot/Shutterstock

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Jan 22 2025
Are People Clicking Links In ChatGPT Search? Brands Say Yes via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A report from Modern Retail shows that people who use ChatGPT and Google Gemini for quick summaries also click the links these tools provide.

This is important for marketers, as it suggests that AI-driven search may change product discovery and online traffic.

While these numbers are self-reported and lack broader data, they offer insight into how consumers engage with AI search results and how brands can benefit.

What Brands Are Observing

Viv, a period care brand, noticed a trend last summer when its website traffic increased by 400%. Marketing director Kelly Donohue linked this to the rise of AI tools.

This spike coincided with a study in Environment International that found harmful heavy metals in popular tampon brands. Viv’s blog posts about product safety gained visibility as people searched for safer options.

The increased traffic resulted in more sales, with Viv reporting a 436% rise from these AI-driven referrals. This indicates that users actively clicked through to learn more and make purchases.

What To Learn From This

Viv’s experience highlights the need for brands to create comprehensive content that answers people’s questions.

Donohue pointed out that platforms like ChatGPT prefer articles with context, sources, and thorough explanations over keyword-heavy material.

Donohue explained,

“These AI tools are specifically scraping through content, but looking for more than just keywords. They’re looking for a cohesive response that they can give to people that includes context, sources, and background.”

In response, Viv focused on transparency and product safety. By creating educational articles, Viv built consumer trust and improved its visibility in AI recommendations.

The effort paid off, Donohue added:

“We ended up selling out of about six months of tampon inventory in three weeks, driven by Google’s AI-powered recommendations.”

Other Brands Report Similar Trends

Joe & Bella is an adaptive apparel brand that has gained more visitors from ChatGPT recommendations.

It makes clothing for older adults and people with mobility challenges, and during the holiday season, it saw an increase in visitors and purchases.

Jimmy Zollo, Joe & Bella’s co-founder and CEO, tells Modern Retail:

“I don’t really know how or what they would have typed or asked ChatGPT to have found us over the holidays.”

Zollo speculated that the company’s ongoing investment in SEO and its blog content likely played a role.

The brand consistently uses keywords like “adaptive clothing” in its search ads and blog posts, which may have helped position it in AI-driven results.

Zollo added:

“It was pretty cool and unexpected, but we need to better understand how to optimize for these searches going forward.”

What This Means for Marketers

These reports show that people engage with links in AI-generated search results rather than just reading summaries.

Dan Buckstaff, chief product officer at Spins, compares this to the early days of SEO.

Buckstaff said:

“Similar to 15 years ago when we were questioning how SEO worked, we’re left with questioning how brands can benefit from AI environments.”

Spins’ 2025 Industry Trends Report indicates that consumers are increasingly using AI tools like ChatGPT and social media platforms like TikTok to discover products.

While advertising on these AI tools is still developing, brands with strong, organized content are benefiting.

Looking Ahead

Consumers are increasingly clicking on links in AI-driven search results, especially younger audiences like Gen Z, who use AI tools for product discovery.

For brands like Viv, this change is crucial for content creation.

Donohue said:

“These searches are top of mind for us now, and the way we’re writing our blogs and the content on our website can play a huge part in people finding us through AI tools.”

The key takeaway is to focus on straightforward, educational content to improve your chances of being recommended by AI-powered search tools.

Featured Image: Mojahid Mottakin/Shutterstock

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Jan 22 2025
A new company plans to use Earth as a chemical reactor

Forget massive steel tanks—some scientists want to make chemicals with the help of rocks deep beneath Earth’s surface.

New research shows that ammonia, a chemical crucial for fertilizer, can be produced from rocks at temperatures and pressures that are common in the subsurface. The research was published today in Joule, and MIT Technology Review can exclusively report that a new company, called Addis Energy, was founded to commercialize the process.

Ammonia is used in most fertilizers and is a vital part of our modern food system. It’s also being considered for use as a green fuel in industries like transoceanic shipping. The problem is that current processes used to make ammonia require a lot of energy and produce huge amounts of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change—over 1% of the global total. The new study finds that the planet’s internal conditions can be used to produce ammonia in a much cleaner process. 

“Earth can be a factory for chemical production,” says Iwnetim Abate, an MIT professor and author of the new study.

This idea could be a major change for the chemical industry, which today relies on huge facilities running reactions at extremely high temperatures and pressures to make ammonia.

The key ingredients for ammonia production are sources of nitrogen and hydrogen. Much of the focus on cleaner production methods currently lies in finding new ways to make hydrogen, since that chemical makes up the bulk of ammonia’s climate footprint, says Patrick Molloy, a principal at the nonprofit research agency Rocky Mountain Institute. 

Recently, researchers and companies have located naturally occurring deposits of hydrogen underground. Iron-rich rocks tend to drive reactions that produce the gas, and these natural deposits could provide a source of low-cost, low-emissions hydrogen.

While geologic hydrogen is still in its infancy as an industry, some researchers are hoping to help the process along by stimulating production of hydrogen underground. With the right rocks, heat, and a catalyst, you can produce hydrogen cheaply and without emitting large amounts of climate pollution.

Hydrogen can be difficult to transport, though, so Abate was interested in going one step further by letting the conditions underground do the hard work in powering chemical reactions that transform hydrogen and nitrogen into ammonia. “As you dig, you get heat and pressure for free,” he says.

To test out how this might work, Abate and his team crushed up iron-rich minerals and added nitrates (a nitrogen source), water (a hydrogen source), and a catalyst to help reactions along in a small reactor in the lab. They found that even at relatively low temperatures and pressures, they could make ammonia in a matter of hours. If the process were scaled up, the researchers estimate, one well could produce 40,000 kilograms of ammonia per day. 

While the reactions tend to go faster at high temperature and pressure, the researchers found that ammonia production could be an economically viable process even at 130 °C (266 °F) and a little over two atmospheres of pressure, conditions that would be accessible at depths reachable with existing drilling technology. 

While the reactions work in the lab, there’s a lot of work to do to determine whether, and how, the process might actually work in the field. One thing the team will need to figure out is how to keep reactions going, because in the reaction that forms ammonia, the surface of the iron-rich rocks will be oxidized, leaving them in a state where they can’t keep reacting. But Abate says the team is working on controlling how thick the unusable layer of rock is, and its composition, so the chemical reactions can continue.

To commercialize this work, Abate is cofounding a company called Addis Energy with $4.25 million in pre-seed funds from investors including Engine Ventures. His cofounders include Michael Alexander and Charlie Mitchell (who have both spent time in the oil and gas industry) and Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor and serial entrepreneur. The company will work on scaling up the research, including finding potential sites with the geological conditions to produce ammonia underground. 

The good news for scale-up efforts is that much of the necessary technology already exists in oil and gas operations, says Alexander, Addis’s CEO. A field-deployed system will involve drilling, pumping fluid down into the ground, and extracting other fluids from beneath the surface, all very common operations in that industry. “There’s novel chemistry that’s wrapped in an oil and gas package,” he says. 

The team will also work on refining cost estimates for the process and gaining a better understanding of safety and sustainability, Abate says. Ammonia is a toxic industrial chemical, but it’s common enough for there to be established procedures for handling, storing, and transporting it, says RMI’s Molloy.

Judging from the researchers’ early estimates, ammonia produced with this method could cost up to $0.55 per kilogram. That’s more than ammonia produced with fossil fuels today ($0.40/kg), but the technique would likely be less expensive than other low-emissions methods of producing the chemical. Tweaks to the process, including using nitrogen from the air instead of nitrates, could help cut costs further, even as low as $0.20/kg. 

New approaches to making ammonia could be crucial for climate efforts. “It’s a chemical that’s essential to our way of life,” says Karthish Manthiram, a professor at Caltech who studies electrochemistry, including alternative ammonia production methods.

The team’s research appears to be designed with scalability in mind from the outset, and using Earth itself as a reactor is the kind of thinking needed to accelerate the long-term journey to sustainable chemical production, Manthiram adds.

While the company focuses on scale-up efforts, there’s plenty of fundamental work left for Abate and other labs to do to understand what’s going on during the reactions at the atomic level, particularly at the interface between the rocks and the reacting fluid. 

Research in the lab is exciting, but it’s only the first step, Abate says. The next one is seeing if this actually works in the field. 

Correction: Due to a unit typo in the journal article, a previous version of this story misstated the amount of ammonia each well could theoretically produce. The estimate is 40,000 kilograms of ammonia per day, not 40,000 tons.

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Jan 22 2025
There can be no winners in a US-China AI arms race

The United States and China are entangled in what many have dubbed an “AI arms race.” 

In the early days of this standoff, US policymakers drove an agenda centered on “winning” the race, mostly from an economic perspective. In recent months, leading AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic got involved in pushing the narrative of “beating China” in what appeared to be an attempt to align themselves with the incoming Trump administration. The belief that the US can win in such a race was based mostly on the early advantage it had over China in advanced GPU compute resources and the effectiveness of AI’s scaling laws.

But now it appears that access to large quantities of advanced compute resources is no longer the defining or sustainable advantage many had thought it would be. In fact, the capability gap between leading US and Chinese models has essentially disappeared, and in one important way the Chinese models may now have an advantage: They are able to achieve near equivalent results while using only a small fraction of the compute resources available to the leading Western labs.    

The AI competition is increasingly being framed within narrow national security terms, as a zero-sum game, and influenced by assumptions that a future war between the US and China, centered on Taiwan, is inevitable. The US has employed “chokepoint” tactics to limit China’s access to key technologies like advanced semiconductors, and China has responded by accelerating its efforts toward self-sufficiency and indigenous innovation, which is causing US efforts to backfire.

Recently even outgoing US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, a staunch advocate for strict export controls, finally admitted that using such controls to hold back China’s progress on AI and advanced semiconductors is a “fool’s errand.” Ironically, the unprecedented export control packages targeting China’s semiconductor and AI sectors have unfolded alongside tentative bilateral and multilateral engagements to establish AI safety standards and governance frameworks—highlighting a paradoxical desire of both sides to compete and cooperate. 

When we consider this dynamic more deeply, it becomes clear that the real existential threat ahead is not from China, but from the weaponization of advanced AI by bad actors and rogue groups who seek to create broad harms, gain wealth, or destabilize society. As with nuclear arms, China, as a nation-state, must be careful about using AI-powered capabilities against US interests, but bad actors, including extremist organizations, would be much more likely to abuse AI capabilities with little hesitation. Given the asymmetric nature of AI technology, which is much like cyberweapons, it is very difficult to fully prevent and defend against a determined foe who has mastered its use and intends to deploy it for nefarious ends. 

Given the ramifications, it is incumbent on the US and China as global leaders in developing AI technology to jointly identify and mitigate such threats, collaborate on solutions, and cooperate on developing a global framework for regulating the most advanced models—instead of erecting new fences, small or large, around AI technologies and pursing policies that deflect focus from the real threat.

It is now clearer than ever that despite the high stakes and escalating rhetoric, there will not and cannot be any long-term winners if the intense competition continues on its current path. Instead, the consequences could be severe—undermining global stability, stalling scientific progress, and leading both nations toward a dangerous technological brinkmanship. This is particularly salient given the importance of Taiwan and the global foundry leader TSMC in the AI stack, and the increasing tensions around the high-tech island. 

Heading blindly down this path will bring the risk of isolation and polarization, threatening not only international peace but also the vast potential benefits AI promises for humanity as a whole.

Historical narratives, geopolitical forces, and economic competition have all contributed to the current state of the US-China AI rivalry. A recent report from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, for example, frames the entire issue in binary terms, focused on dominance or subservience. This “winner takes all” logic overlooks the potential for global collaboration and could even provoke a self-fulfilling prophecy by escalating conflict. Under the new Trump administration this dynamic will likely become more accentuated, with increasing discussion of a Manhattan Project for AI and redirection of US military resources from Ukraine toward China. 

Fortunately, a glimmer of hope for a responsible approach to AI collaboration is appearing now as Donald Trump recently  posted on January 17 that he’d restarted direct dialogue with Chairman Xi Jinping regarding various areas of collaboration, and given past cooperation should continue to be “partners and friends.” The outcome of the TikTok drama, putting Trump at odds with sharp China critics in his own administration and Congress, will be a preview of how his efforts to put US China relations on a less confrontational trajectory.

The promise of AI for good

Western mass media usually focuses on attention-grabbing issues described in terms like the “existential risks of evil AI.” Unfortunately, the AI safety experts who get the most coverage often recite the same narratives, scaring the public. In reality, no credible research shows that more capable AI will become increasingly evil. We need to challenge the current false dichotomy of pure accelerationism versus doomerism to allow for a model more like collaborative acceleration. 

It is important to note the significant difference between the way AI is perceived in Western developed countries and developing countries. In developed countries the public sentiment toward AI is 60% to 70% negative, while in the developing markets the positive ratings are 60% to 80%. People in the latter places have seen technology transform their lives for the better in the past decades and are hopeful AI will help solve the remaining issues they face by improving education, health care, and productivity, thereby elevating their quality of life and giving them greater world standing. What Western populations often fail to realize is that those same benefits could directly improve their lives as well, given the high levels of inequity even in developed markets. Consider what progress would be possible if we reallocated the trillions that go into defense budgets each year to infrastructure, education, and health-care projects. 

Once we get to the next phase, AI will help us accelerate scientific discovery, develop new drugs, extend our health span, reduce our work obligations, and ensure access to high-quality education for all. This may sound idealistic, but given current trends, most of this can become a reality within a generation, and maybe sooner. To get there we’ll need more advanced AI systems, which will be a much more challenging goal if we divide up compute/data resources and research talent pools. Almost half of all top AI researchers globally (47%) were born or educated in China, according to industry studies. It’s hard to imagine how we could have gotten where we are without the efforts of Chinese researchers. Active collaboration with China on joint AI research could be pivotal to supercharging progress with a major infusion of quality training data and researchers. 

The escalating AI competition between the US and China poses significant threats to both nations and to the entire world. The risks inherent in this rivalry are not hypothetical—they could lead to outcomes that threaten global peace, economic stability, and technological progress. Framing the development of artificial intelligence as a zero-sum race undermines opportunities for collective advancement and security. Rather than succumb to the rhetoric of confrontation, it is imperative that the US and China, along with their allies, shift toward collaboration and shared governance.

Our recommendations for policymakers:

  1. Reduce national security dominance over AI policy. Both the US and China must recalibrate their approach to AI development, moving away from viewing AI primarily as a military asset. This means reducing the emphasis on national security concerns that currently dominate every aspect of AI policy. Instead, policymakers should focus on civilian applications of AI that can directly benefit their populations and address global challenges, such as health care, education, and climate change. The US also needs to investigate how to implement a possible universal basic income program as job displacement from AI adoption becomes a bigger issue domestically. 
    • 2. Promote bilateral and multilateral AI governance. Establishing a robust dialogue between the US, China, and other international stakeholders is crucial for the development of common AI governance standards. This includes agreeing on ethical norms, safety measures, and transparency guidelines for advanced AI technologies. A cooperative framework would help ensure that AI development is conducted responsibly and inclusively, minimizing risks while maximizing benefits for all.
    • 3. Expand investment in detection and mitigation of AI misuse. The risk of AI misuse by bad actors, whether through misinformation campaigns, telecom, power, or financial system attacks, or cybersecurity attacks with the potential to destabilize society, is the biggest existential threat to the world today. Dramatically increasing funding for and international cooperation in detecting and mitigating these risks is vital. The US and China must agree on shared standards for the responsible use of AI and collaborate on tools that can monitor and counteract misuse globally.
    • 4. Create incentives for collaborative AI research. Governments should provide incentives for academic and industry collaborations across borders. By creating joint funding programs and research initiatives, the US and China can foster an environment where the best minds from both nations contribute to breakthroughs in AI that serve humanity as a whole. This collaboration would help pool talent, data, and compute resources, overcoming barriers that neither country could tackle alone. A global effort akin to the CERN for AI will bring much more value to the world, and a peaceful end, than a Manhattan Project for AI, which is being promoted by many in Washington today. 
    • 5. Establish trust-building measures. Both countries need to prevent misinterpretations of AI-related actions as aggressive or threatening. They could do this via data-sharing agreements, joint projects in nonmilitary AI, and exchanges between AI researchers. Reducing import restrictions for civilian AI use cases, for example, could help the nations rebuild some trust and make it possible for them to discuss deeper cooperation on joint research. These measures would help build transparency, reduce the risk of miscommunication, and pave the way for a less adversarial relationship.
    • 6. Support the development of a global AI safety coalition. A coalition that includes major AI developers from multiple countries could serve as a neutral platform for addressing ethical and safety concerns. This coalition would bring together leading AI researchers, ethicists, and policymakers to ensure that AI progresses in a way that is safe, fair, and beneficial to all. This effort should not exclude China, as it remains an essential partner in developing and maintaining a safe AI ecosystem.
    • 7. Shift the focus toward AI for global challenges. It is crucial that the world’s two AI superpowers use their capabilities to tackle global issues, such as climate change, disease, and poverty. By demonstrating the positive societal impacts of AI through tangible projects and presenting it not as a threat but as a powerful tool for good, the US and China can reshape public perception of AI. 

    Our choice is stark but simple: We can proceed down a path of confrontation that will almost certainly lead to mutual harm, or we can pivot toward collaboration, which offers the potential for a prosperous and stable future for all. Artificial intelligence holds the promise to solve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity, but realizing this potential depends on whether we choose to race against each other or work together. 

    The opportunity to harness AI for the common good is a chance the world cannot afford to miss.

    Alvin Wang Graylin

    Alvin Wang Graylin is a technology executive, author, investor, and pioneer with over 30 years of experience shaping innovation in AI, XR (extended reality), cybersecurity, and semiconductors. Currently serving as global vice president at HTC, Graylin was the company’s China president from 2016 to 2023. He is the author of Our Next Reality.

    Paul Triolo

    Paul Triolo is a partner for China and technology policy lead at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group. He advises clients in technology, financial services, and other sectors as they navigate complex political and regulatory matters in the US, China, the European Union, India, and around the world.

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