Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the company plans to incorporate conversational AI into its flagship Search product. This move follows Microsoft’s release of Bing Search with OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI engine, which prompted Google to declare a “code red” as it saw the AI as an existential threat to its core business. In this post, we’ll explore the potential impact of Google’s conversational AI integration into Search.
Google’s Conversational AI Plans
Pichai revealed that Google plans to integrate large language models (LLMs) into Search, allowing users to ask questions and engage in conversations with the AI. This move is not unexpected, considering Microsoft’s release of Bing Search with ChatGPT AI engine. However, Google’s implementation would potentially have more impact, given its 93.4% worldwide share of the search market. Pichai sees AI chat as a way to expand Google’s search business rather than a threat.
Google’s AI Products
Google is cutting jobs to be 20% more productive. But, it is speeding up work on new AI products. Google plans to let Google Brain and DeepMind collaborate more to be efficient in AI development. Pichai said Google would switch to a “capable” language model to close the gap with ChatGPT.
Timeline and Impact
Pichai did not reveal a timeline for chat AI search integration into Google Search. Still, it’s clear that Google lags behind Microsoft after OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT. Microsoft soon released Bing Search powered by OpenAI’s latest GPT 4 model, which gave it uncanny abilities. However, Pichai believes that the opportunity space is even more significant with AI chat, and the move could have a considerable impact on traditional internet search.
Conclusion:
Google’s plans to add conversational AI to its search product have significant implications for the future of search technology. As Google plays catch-up with Microsoft, we can expect stronger collaboration between AI units and more efficient AI development in the future. While it remains to be seen when this integration will occur, it’s clear that Google is committed to expanding its search business through AI chat.