Is the well-known Google search at risk of disappearing?
If you're looking for something online, you'll likely see a collection of web links. But this traditional approach faced a threat from artificial intelligence (AI) which can do more than just list websites. Therefore, Google needed to upgrade its search engine to stay ahead of the game.
Google is upgrading its search engine and services with AI. AI-generated summaries of search results are now available to all US users, with other countries to follow suit. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, announced these developments at the Google I/O developer conference. The AI model Gemini's features are now available to over two billion users.
The new motto is "we'll do the Googling for you," said Liz Reid, the head of internet search at Google. You can now ask several questions in one search query. For instance, you can find out not only where Pilates studios are in Boston, but also how to get there and book a session.
A few AI start-ups are competing with Google in internet searches. Their focus is on providing users with quick, detailed answers rather than web links. This search behavior could potentially jeopardize Google's current business model, as the company makes most of its revenue from advertisers' links placed alongside search results.
While AI competitors like Perplexity AI haven't posed a significant challenge to Google yet, the internet giant has introduced a feature that lets you search the web by circling an object in a picture or selecting text on your smartphone screen. With these new features, Google is moving beyond just useful links.
AI-assisted search coming to Europe soon
At the conference, Pichai stated, "Google Search is AI at the scale of human curiosity." An example of this would be giving AI a broken record player's image so it can find solutions.
The AI-assisted search is initially available in English in the US. However, it will be introduced in Europe and Germany "in the foreseeable future." Google has been investing in AI for more than a decade and is working on enlarging the "context window" - the amount of information an AI model can record and analyze concurrently.
Google is also exploring "AI agents" - assistants that can carry out tasks requiring multiple steps autonomously. These agents could manage returns or handle paperwork when moving houses and look up useful addresses in your new neighborhood. Pichai demonstrated how the software could find all swimming progress images of a child from the collection of personal photos on request.
The day before, OpenAI raised the bar for Google's announcements with their ChatGPT version that could fluently converse and recognize people's emotions. Google has been messing around with AI software for years, but ChatGPT's chatbot outmaneuvered Google's when it entered the scene. On Tuesday, Google showcased a version of its AI called "Project Astra" in a video, which can converse at lightning speed and ask questions about objects it sees using the smartphone camera.
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- Technology groups in the USA and Europe are investing heavily in artificial intelligence to improve their search engines, with Google leading the way.
- The use of chatbots, like ChatGPT, is becoming popular among technology groups, with Google announcing its own AI-based chatbot named "Project Astra" at a recent event.
- Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, announced at the company's developer conference that AI-assisted search is now available for US users and will soon be introduced in Europe and Germany.
- Smartphone users can now use AI to search the web by circling an object in a picture or selecting text on their screen, signaling Google's shift from just listing website links to providing detailed answers.
Source: www.ntv.de
