Search Has Its Goliath. Could Richard Socher Be Its David?

On a rare rain-free afternoon this spring, Richard Socher stood atop a hill, surveying the direction of the wind. The wind often interests Socher, the 38-year-old co-founder and CEO of search engine You.com, because in his spare time he likes to fly around on a paramotor, a parachute-like contraption supported by a backpack propeller. We were standing at one of his launch spots, a short hike from the 40-acre ranch where he lives, about half an hour west of Palo Alto, Calif.

Before making the jump off a hill such as this, Socher explained, you have to know the wind’s direction, the speed, the gust factor and the weather forecast. You cannot simply Google this information. You could ask ChatGPT, but you’d be let down. (“As an AI language model, I don’t have access to real-time weather data,” the chatbot will admit.) So Socher uses an app called Windy, which offers precise forecasts for his airborne adventures.

Soon, he said, apps like Windy will be integrated into his artificial intelligence–powered search engine, You.com, so you can simply search for current wind conditions, with the AI model surfacing the app. “The beauty of an open-platform search engine like You.com is that you can select which weather app you want, versus on Google you cannot,” he said. “My hope is that we put users somewhat more in control.”