Have they made a special exception for themselves? They don't even appear to be indexed yet? https://www.google.com/search?q=google+ai&oq=google+ai&aqs=c...
If Google sites tend to float to the top for you, you're probably an avid Google user (don't forget search results are personalized) or searching for terms in which they rank highly. Extrapolating such an experience to Google taking advantage of their position to create a non-level playing field for search results is a biiiiiiig claim, given the implications. Back it up.
[0]: http://searchengineland.com/google-penalized-breaking-seo-ru...
Almost every single search query returns search results linking to content surrounded by adsense ads. I'm still waiting for them to de-prioritize those webpages, and link to results containing little to no ads. IIRC back when YT still ran exclusively on flash, they de-prioritized other websites for flash content but ignored the offensive over the top ads on YT's front page. Memories fade, but at this point I hazard a guess that even Google's own employees don't believe that their search doesn't favor them.
I am a former Google employee, and your guess is wrong, in my experience. Most I've interacted with on this topic correctly perceive Google search results as important to maintain as neutral, given the consequences for not doing so.
This thread started as discussing search engine ranking for .ai. A claim was then made that Google always prioritizes its own properties, and the person who made that claim discarded the context of search results. We're now talking about Google+ sidebars/shopping boxes, Android integrations, and so on -- that was not at all what I'm talking about. I'm specifically countering the notion that PageRank is manipulated to support Google properties. That's all.
I'm not here to defend Google. (I am actually quite negative on Google.) I'm arresting the claim that Google manipulates search results to promote its own properties, because that's just fake news. Sorry. I am aware the EU and others considered Google+ sidebars and Google Shopping boxes as manipulating results, but they are orthogonal and only manipulate results technically. There is absolutely no code in search that adds PageRank to a property simply because it is owned by Google, and the burden is on the person making that claim to back it up.
Edit: Just saw your edit, yeah, I'm broadening the topic. We'd have to shut down every single comment thread on every website if that never happened :)
Where is the code for PageRank algo? I would like to see it.
Companies go about this type of self-promotion in sneaky ways, because they know such tactics won't last long if the first line of code their employees see is `if 'google' in domain: pagerank * 5`. But it'd be naive to pretend like there aren't some people quietly attempting to promote Google's own properties within Google search results, with varying degrees of self-awareness of this fact, from "completely oblivious" (e.g., the search engineer's assumption that a Google-backed property is more likely to be the "correct" search result for a relevant query, and that therefore there is a problem if Google-backed properties are not highly ranked) to "explicitly tasked with finding subtle ways to favor Google's own offerings within the algorithm".
Large companies are necessarily masters of PR/indirection, and they will work to retain plausible deniability, especially after the MS antitrust case.
Search is a feee service offered by a private company. Users of search don't pay for it so I dont see how monopoly or antitrust legal issues arise. As long as they are honest about what they're doing, and don't manipate ad results (which is a service that does have paying customers) the non ad results could be generated however google sees fit. Since it's free google should be able to set whatever terms it wants - if you don't like it don't use it. No?