Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. (Google PHOTO)
Google on Wednesday announced plans to equip its dominant search engine with more advanced artificial intelligence technology in response to one of the biggest threats to its longstanding position as the main gateway to the Internet.
The company therefore used its big annual event to showcase its next-generation speech models called PaLM 2, which Bard, its conversational agent, competitor ChatGPT, relies on. These new language models are set to be added to 25 of the California giant’s services.
The announced change to how Google’s search engine works comes three months after Microsoft’s search engine Bing began using technology similar to that of its artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, which sparked public interest. One of the biggest hypes in Silicon Valley since Apple launched the first iPhone 16 years earlier.
Google, owned by Alphabet Inc., has already tested its chatbot called Bard. This product, based on a technology called Generative AI, which also powers ChatGPT, was only available to people on a waitlist. But Google took the opportunity and announced that Bard would be available to all users in more than 180 countries and in languages other than English.
Bard’s multilingual expansion starts with Japanese and Korean before adding about 40 more languages.
Google now says it’s ready to test AI with its search engine, which has been synonymous with internet search for 20 years and is the backbone of a digital advertising empire that generated more than $220 billion in revenue last year.
“We are at an exciting tipping point,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a speech packed with AI references at a packed developer conference. We rethink all of our products, including research. »
Protect a “gem”.
More AI technologies are being built into Google’s Gmail email, with a “Help me write” option that creates long email replies in seconds, and a photo tool called “Magic Editor” that automatically retouches images .
The transition to AI will begin cautiously with the search engine, Google’s crown jewel.
This approach reflects the balancing act Google must perform to stay at the cutting edge of technology while maintaining its reputation for providing reliable search results. A reputation that could be marred by artificial intelligence’s penchant for producing seemingly authoritative information.
Google will take its next steps in AI through a newly established research lab where Americans can wait-list to test how generative AI will be incorporated into research results. The tests also include more traditional links to external websites where users can read more detailed information about the requested topics.
It may be several weeks before Google sends out invites to people on the waitlist to try out the AI-powered search engine.
AI results are clearly identified as an experimental form of technology, and Google strives to make AI-generated summaries factual rather than conversational, unlike Bard and ChatGPT, which are programmed to present a more human image. Google says it has safeguards in place to prevent the search engine’s built-in AI from answering sensitive health questions, such as “should I give a 3-year-old Tylenol?” and financial matters. In these cases, Google will continue to direct users to legitimate websites.
Google doesn’t anticipate how soon its search engine will provide generative AI results for all users. The Mountain View, Calif., company has been under increasing pressure to show how its search engine will maintain its leadership position since Microsoft began integrating AI into Bing, which still lags far behind Google.
The potential threat sent Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc.’s share price plummeting, but recently bounced back to where it was when Bing announced its AI plans to great fanfare. Recently, The New York Times reported that Samsung is considering dropping Google as the default search engine on its popular smartphones, raising concerns that Apple could use a similar tactic on the iPhone unless Google just shows that its search engine is scaling with it may be what looks to be an upcoming AI-driven revolution.
By Michael Liedtke, Associated Press