When it comes to web searches, the American company Google has had an edge that seemed unassailable. Now American rival Microsoft has presented a new search engine with artificial intelligence, which should break Google’s dominance. That could not only disrupt the balance of power on the Internet, but also the way people search. But Google is also upgrading.
As soon as Microsoft rushed to announce that it would upgrade its Bing search engine with features from the hyped AI service ChatGPT, rival Google followed suit. On Wednesday, the internet giant revealed on the company blog a number of new features for its search engine that are powered by AI – such as an improved “combined search” where you can convert text, images and videos into a single search. In the future, AI will also be used in Google Maps, the Google translator and Google’s cultural offerings.
The most important questions and answers about the AI arms race from the IT giants:
Why are Google and Microsoft suddenly so active in AI?
In fact, Google and Microsoft, as well as other tech companies like IBM and Salesforce, have been working for years to enhance their products with artificial intelligence (AI) features. The spectrum ranges from automatically translating texts to calculating travel routes in a navigation app.
However, the subject of AI has gained a whole new level of visibility since last November. That’s when California startup OpenAI made its AI language models available to the public with the help of a text robot, though they weren’t ready yet. The courage of OpenAI boss Sam Altman was rewarded. ChatGPT usage has exploded. The system is on everyone’s lips.
What is so innovative about systems like ChatGPT?
ChatGPT’s basic technology was developed five years ago, mainly by Google researchers. Massive amounts of text are analyzed using algorithms that mimic nerve cells in the brain. These “neural networks” can then recognize which words often appear together, for example “Graz”, “capital” and “Styria”. This allows ChatGPT to predict with a high degree of probability which word will appear next in a sentence and formulate plausible sounding sentences.
What is new is that different AI functions can be combined with each other. For example, you can ask ChatGPT to write a specific topic for a post on a career network like LinkedIn in 300 words of English.
Which specific applications are conceivable?
Systems like ChatGPT can collect information from a wide variety of sources. For example, if you search for a travel destination that is no more than four hours away by plane, you will not get links to offers from travel portals. Instead, the chatbot delivers an AI-formulated text suggesting Marrakech, Lisbon, Faro, Istanbul, Crete and Reykjavík as possible destinations, each with a brief description.
How has the technology worked in search engines so far?
Leading search engine Google has so far had two methods of answering questions. On the one hand, there is the “Knowledge Graph”, a collection of knowledge that Google can display directly using sources such as Wikipedia and many databases. However, the core business is showing internet links that match a search term. The secret Google algorithm decides on the order. An important factor is the popularity of the site, ie how often the offer is linked to. In addition to these generic search results, Google displays links paid for by advertisers.
Could Bing now become the new Google?
At least that’s what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella hopes for. Bing has never managed to seriously compete with Google in recent years. According to Statcounter.com, Google has a global market share of almost 93 percent, while Bing has only three percent. “This technology will transform virtually every category of software we know,” said Nadella. This also explains why his company has invested several billion dollars in OpenAI and the rights to use ChatGPT.
However, Google won’t give up the field without a battle with its arch-rival Microsoft, with whom it primarily competes in the cloud business. A day before the Microsoft event, Google announced a major AI product initiative, for which new details have now also been announced.
What problems are there with using AI chatbots?
The linguistic eloquence of the answers gives the impression that all facts are watertight. That is not the case. ChatGPT keeps spewing out answers that are fictitious. The chatbot creators also warn against accepting the results without checking them.
Chat systems in particular have great difficulty searching for people. It can happen that different people with the same name merge into a new virtual person. It may be that the system mistakenly believes that CSU politician Gerd Müller was also the one who scored the winning goal for the German national team in the 1974 World Cup final.
Can AI bots also be abused?
Yes that is possible. The providers try to block malicious requests, for example for bomb-building instructions. But on the internet you can always see examples of how to circumvent these blockades.
ChatGPT and Google’s counterpart “Bard” are also suitable for cheating exams and homework at school and university. So far, there is no effective way to clearly identify AI-generated content as robot text.
Are AI bots getting better and better?
Yes they will. Opening up ChatGPT to mass use also contributes to quality improvement. The creators of OpenAI ask users to rate the quality of the answers. This feedback helps the AI identify and eliminate systematic weaknesses.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
