Over the last year, its become palpable.
Google has such utility in this regard that in some cases, a hallucinating lie-machine offers better answer than an index of what information is available on the internet.
This issue with with Googles failure to respond to the deluge of SEO driven content in their searches. They can do better. They've chosen to not do so.
How much do you think companies are willing to spend to be the answer to, "what is the most reliable car?" or, "who should I vote for?"
In theory it is possible that sponsored content will creep in, but that does not invalidate the incredible benefits a well trained language model will have, even despite the occasional for-profit bias.