Commentary: Bard, Bing and Baidu – how Big Tech’s AI race will transform search

AI-DRIVEN SEARCH

Google, along with the other tech giants, has been using AI in search for many years already. AI algorithms, for example, order the search results Google returns.

The difference now is that instead of searching based on the words you type, these new search engines will try to “understand” your question. And instead of sending you links, they’ll try to answer the questions, too.

But new chatbot technology is far from perfect. ChatGPT sometimes just makes stuff up. Chatbots can also be tricked into saying things that are inappropriate, offensive or illegal – although researchers are working hard to reduce this.

EXISTENTIAL RISK

For Google, this has been described by the New York Times not just as an AI race, but a race to survive.

When ChatGPT first came out late last year, alarm bells rang for the search giant. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, returned from their outside activities to oversee the response.

Advertising revenue from Google Search results contributes about three-quarters of the US$283 billion annual revenue of Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

If people start using AI chatbots to answer their questions rather than Google Search, what will happen to that income?

Even if Google users stick with Google, but get their answers directly from the Bard, how will Google make money when no links are being clicked anymore?

Microsoft may see this as an opportunity for its search engine, Bing, to overtake Google. It’s not out of the question that it will. In the 1990s, before Google came out, I was very happy with AltaVista – the best search engine of the day. But I quickly jumped ship as soon as a better search experience arrived.