Google has a real battle in hands, and that is why the company is working hard to fight off serious competition from Microsoft. By bringing generative AI to Search, Google will be hoping that its new project Magi is up to speed.
As per the New York Times, the search engine giant is working on a new project it calls project “Magi.” According to the report, Google is “upgrading the existing [search engine] with A.I. features” as part of project Magi. The new feature according to the report, will offer a “far more personalized experience than the company’s current service.”
With Magi, search will be able to “answer questions about software coding and write code based on a user’s request.” Users will have the ability to ask follow-up questions, while it would also feature ads under the generated results.
The addition of Magi to Google Search is imminent, with 160 designers, engineers, and executives currently working full-time and quickly iterating on it. The report further stated that employees have been invited to test and query Magi as of last week, with a proper launch set for May.
“The system would learn what users want to know based on what they’re searching when they begin using it. And it would offer lists of preselected options for objects to buy, information to research and other information. It would also be more conversational — a bit like chatting with a helpful person,” The New York Times wrote.
Google’s urgency may have been encouraged by the information it got about how “Samsung was considering replacing Google with Microsoft’s Bing as the default search engine on its devices.” This would mean that Bing would become the default search service on Android and tablets.
Google believes that the reason the Samsung wants to make the switch is because of Bing’s integration of AI to its search service. According to NYT, the “contract is under negotiation, and Samsung could stick with Google.” This gives Google a ray of hope as the company believes things could still sway its way, and wants to present a counter pitch to Samsung.
We will just wait to see how this turns out as the integration of generative AI into search could change a lot of things in the coming years.
