In November 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, which provoked euphoria and raised many questions concerning the innovative potential of the chatbot and its potentially disruptive effects on all aspects of life. ChatGPT is built on the cornerstone of an AI model (GPT) first developed by Google, which generates answers based on prediction. However, ChatGPT is a further developed version of GPT, improved through human feedback to different answers to another AI model that adapts and improves the output.
Google’s chatbot Bard, like ChatGPT, is built on text-generation software and includes parts of their AI model LaMDA which the company announced in May 2021. According to Google, the lightweight improved version of LaMDA will result in a higher number of users, which will be beneficial for gathering feedback to address and overcome the challenges encountered within the chatbot’s responses. A similar type of software is difficult to update with new information, and the issues around the accuracy of the chatbot’s answers present a severe obstacle to future development goals.
In his blog post, Sundar Pichai – the CEO of Google and Alphabet, outlines that Google’s AI technology will enable conventional search. When a question with no single agreed-on answer is asked, Google will synthesize an answer that addresses the different viewpoints.
But increasingly, people are turning to Google for deeper insights and understanding — like, “is the piano or guitar easier to learn, and how much practice does each need?” Learning about a topic like this can take a lot of effort to figure out what you need to know, and people often want to explore a diverse range of opinions or perspectives. AI can be helpful in these moments, synthesizing insights for questions where there’s no one right answer. Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web…
- says Sundar Pichai
The rapid success of ChatGPT provoked many speculations regarding whether Google encounters challenges to the dominance of its web search. “We re-oriented the company around AI six years ago,” outlines Pichai. “Since then, we’ve continued to make investments in AI across the board.”
