Google AI Mode Experiment
Okay. So, that very idea Leanne Emery-Hunter shared earlier, that’s the kind of powerful signal I’m talking about. Being here in this amphitheater at the sculpture park, you can feel the excitement of the ideas being shared. But it brings up a question that I obsess over:
What is the single biggest threat to a world-changing idea?
It’s not funding. It’s not criticism. But it’s silence.
Every speaker on the stage is creating a signal for a greener, fairer world. We’ve heard how Steve Carver is working with crooked carrots. And Gamuchirai Mutezo (PhD) is turning her organic passion into opportunities.
But those signals are being broadcast into a storm of noise of distraction, disinformation… overload.
A brilliant idea without a clear path to the right audience is just a beautiful secret.
And our planet doesn’t need any more secrets.
The innovator in the lab needs to reach people like Leanne. The community leader working on the ground needs to reach Crispian Olver the G20.
Connecting them isn’t by chance. It’s a design problem.
At Naritive, my team and I are obsessed with that exact problem. And as a TED Fellow, I’ve noticed and seen firsthand that an idea’s journey doesn’t end when it’s shared on the stage. This is where it begins.
Our contribution to this movement of TEDxJohannesburg Countdown is providing the technology that strengthens the signal within the noise. We ensure the solutions born here and shared here don’t just echo in the trees and in this amphitheater, but resonates in the mind of the people who can scale them, who can act on them, and who can fund them.
So, as you listen today, I invite you to do more than just be inspired. Think of yourself as the carrier of the signal. And ask yourself that one question: Who do I know that needs to hear this? And share it with them.
Because a thriving future doesn’t happen by chance.
Thank you 👐
The Google AI Mode Experiment, The TEDx Talk & The Newborn
That was the 3-minute talk I had the honour of giving last weekend on the main stage at TEDxJohannesburg Countdown 2025 at the incredible NIROX Sculpture Park.
To say it was a surreal weekend is an understatement. My wife and I welcomed our son into the world just a few days prior. Running on adrenaline and the kind of profound clarity that only comes from a lack of sleep and holding a newborn, the event’s theme of a “greener, fairer, thriving future” became intensely personal. I couldn’t not give this talk.
I am endlessly grateful to Kelo Kubu, Thati Mokgoro, and the entire TEDxJohannesburg volunteer team for their vision and tireless work. It was a world-class event.
But of course, in true Web AddiCT fashion, I couldn’t just have an experience… I had to run an experiment.
My talk was about the “Injustice of Silence” and the design problem of getting a “signal” through the “noise.” So, I used the talk itself as the subject of a digital experiment.
The Experiment: Facebook Public Content vs. Google’s AI Overviews
We all know Google’s AI Overviews are changing search. They construct new answers by summarising the web. But how much do they “respect” or “see” content inside the walled garden of Facebook?
Here was my hypothesis: If I published the entire story of my talk publicly on my Facebook Page first, would it be indexed and prioritised by Google’s AI Mode quickly enough to influence the search results for my name?
On October 27th, I did just that. I published the post (you can see it here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17MPL5MDzk/) before publishing it on my own blog.
This blog post (which you’re reading now) is the second phase of that experiment. Publishing the content on a domain I own to compare how Google’s AI treats it versus the social media post.
The Result (As of November 2, 2025)
The experiment is already yielding fascinating results. This morning, I asked Google (in AI mode): “did Rafiq Phillips do a talk at TEDx Johannesburg Countdown 2025?”
This is what Google AI Mode had to say…
Yes, Rafiq Phillips gave a talk at TEDxJohannesburg Countdown 2025.
The event took place on October 24–25, 2025, and his talk was a short 3-minute presentation titled “The Injustice of Silence”.
The premise of his talk was that the biggest threat to world-changing ideas is not a lack of funding or criticism, but silence. He encouraged the audience to become “carriers for the ideas that matter” to ensure that powerful climate solutions and other important ideas reach the people who can act on them.
This is a clear win. The AI was able to see the content, parse the core thesis of the talk (“The Injustice of Silence”), and even pick up on the specific call to action (“carriers for the ideas that matter”).
My talk was about solving the design problem of getting ideas heard. This experiment is my way of living that question: in 2025, in a world of AI and walled gardens, what is the new design for making a signal resonate? It’s clear that even native social content is playing a key role.