Google on Wednesday revealed plans to infuse its dominant search engine with more advanced artificial intelligence technology, a push that comes in response to one of the biggest threats to its long-established position as the main gateway to the Internet.
The gradual change in the way the Google search engine works is being implemented three months after Microsoft’s Bing search engine began harnessing technology similar to that powering the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, which has created some of the biggest buzz in Silicon Valley since Apple released the first iPhone 16 years ago.
Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., has already been testing its own conversational chatbot named bard. That product, powered by technology called generative AI that also powers ChatGPT, has only been available to people accepted from a waiting list. But Google announced Wednesday that Bard will be available to anyone interested in more than 180 countries and in more languages than English.
Bard’s multilingual expansion will begin with Japanese and Korean before adding around 40 more languages.
Now Google is ready to test the AI waters with its search engine, which has been synonymous with finding things on the Internet for the past 20 years and serves as the mainstay of a digital advertising empire that generated more than $220 billion in revenue. last year.
“We are at an exciting inflection point,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told a jam-packed developer conference in a speech peppered with one AI reference after another. “We are reinventing all of our products, including search.”
More AI technology is coming to Gmail from Google with a «Help Me Type» option that will produce lengthy responses to emails in seconds, and a photo tool called «Magic Editor» that will automatically edit images.
The AI transition will start cautiously with the search engine that serves as Google’s crown jewel.
The deliberate approach reflects the balancing act Google must negotiate as it tries to stay ahead while preserving its reputation for providing reliable search results, a mantle that could be undermined by AI’s penchant for fabricating information that sounds authorized.
The tendency to produce deceptively convincing answers to questions, a phenomenon euphemistically described as «hallucinations» – has already been appearing during Bard’s first testswhich, like ChatGPT, is based on generative AI technology that is still evolving.
Google will take its next AI steps through a newly formed search lab where people in the US can join a waiting list to test how generative AI will be incorporated into search results. The tests also include the more traditional links to external websites where users can read more extensive information on the topics consulted. It may take several weeks before Google starts sending out invitations to those accepted from the waiting list to try out the AI-injected search engine.
The AI results will be clearly labeled as an experimental form of technology and Google promises that the AI-generated summaries will sound more factual than conversational, a stark contrast to Bard and ChatGPT, which are programmed to convey more human-like characters. Google is building guardrails that will prevent AI embedded in the search engine from answering sensitive health questions, like «Should I give a 3-year-old Tylenol?» — and financial matters. In those cases, Google will continue to direct people to authorized websites.
Google isn’t predicting how long it will be before its search engine includes AI-generative results for all comers. The Mountain View, California-based company has been under increasing pressure to show how its search engine will maintain its lead since Microsoft began loading AI into Bing, which remains a distant second behind Google.
The potential threat sent Alphabet’s stock price tumbling initially, though it recently rallied to where it was when Bing announced its AI plans to much fanfare. More recently, The New York Times reported Samsung is considering leaving Google as the default search engine on its widely used smartphones, raising the specter that Apple could take a similar tactic with the iPhone unless Google can show that its search engine can evolve with what appears to be a next revolution. AI powered.
Alphabet shares rose 4% on Wednesday after Google’s wave of AI ads ended at $111.75, the highest closing price since Bing began merging with ChatGPT in early February.
As it begins to integrate AI into its search engine, Google aims to make Bard smarter by connecting with the next generation of a massive data set known as a «big language model,» or LLM, which feeds it. . The LLM that Bard trusts is called Pathways language model, or Palm. The AI in Google’s search engine will be based on the next-generation PaLM2 and other technology known as multitasking Unified Model, or MOM.
Although people will have to wait to see how Google’s search engine will implement generative AI to find answers, a new tool will soon be more widely available to all users. Google will add a new filter called «Insights» that will focus on what people are saying online about whatever topic is entered into the search engine. The new feature will sit alongside existing search filters for news, images, and videos.
In addition to using its annual tech showcase to promote its AI prowess, Google also unveiled the first foldable smartphone in its Pixel line of devices. Google’s entry into a new type of smartphone design that allows users to implement the device as a mini tablet is also almost here. three years after Samsung — the leading maker of smartphones powered by Google’s Android software — introduced its first flexible model.
Until now, foldable phones have remained a niche market, largely due to prices ranging from $1,500 to $2,000. Last year, around 14 million foldable phones were sold globally, accounting for just 1% of total smartphone shipments, according to research firm International Data Corp.
Google’s foldable Pixel phone will retail for $1,800 and start shipping next month. It will unfold on a hinge, and of course, it will be packed with AI.