Google Enhancing Search Engine with AI Features
AI chatbots exploded in popularity after the success of ChatGPT. Microsoft seized the opportunity to hop into the wagon and introduced GPT-4 powered chatbot to Bing. This is its bid to stop Google’s search dominance.
But Google does not want to be left behind. It followed suit by creating its own AI chatbot called Bard.
Recently, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told WSJ that the company will enhance its search engine by injecting AI features. It means that Google will have its own chat feature that users can use to interact in a more conversational manner.
Incorporating AI features into Google search tools truly indicates that it is serious about competing against Microsoft and ChatGPT.
However, Pichai denied that ChatGPT could cause a threat to its main search business. Instead, by integrating AI into its Google search, the tool would be more powerful as it can answer a range of search queries.
Microsoft released a new version of Bing search and it is not powered by ChatGPT. The generative AI helped Bing gather 100 million daily users last month. It is also integrating the technology in its Edge browser.
Pichai said that Google welcomes competition from other companies.
Earlier this year, it launched its AI chatbot Bard and it became accessible by a group of trusted testers. Bard combines the world’s knowledge with the creativity and intelligence of large language models. It draws information from the web to provide users with fresh responses.
The Rise of LLMs
Large language models (LLMs) are advanced natural language processing (NLP) models that are designed to understand and generate human-like language at a high level of complexity.
They are built using deep neural networks and trained on vast amounts of text data, enabling them to learn the patterns and structures of languages in a way that enables them to generate new text that is coherent and contextually appropriate.
OpenAI’s GPT has over 175 billion parameters. It is capable of performing a range of language tasks, like text summarization, language translation, etc.
Even though LLMs are beneficial, they pose some risks. For instance, they can learn and amplify biases present in the training data, leading to biased language generation. Thus, some would find racial and gender biases that can perpetuate stereotypes and reinforce systemic inequalities.
LLMs can also generate false and misleading information. This is especially true if they are trained on unverified data. It can contribute to the spread of misinformation and disinformation that can have serious consequences.
Training and running of LLMs need significant computational resources and energy. It can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation.
We just hope that Google’s LLMs are trained on diverse and representative data. They must also implement safeguards against misinformation and biased language generation. And Google should take measures to protect individuals’ privacy and security.
Pichai has not offered timelines as to when its chatbot will be available. It can be that Google will still test the waters during its conference keynote on May 10.
