OpenAI, which Elon Musk founded in 2015, released ChatGPT last week. It can respond to user text prompts and can even write human-like essays, lyrics, stories, marketing pitches, and scripts.
Some wonder if the search engine monopoly could be challenged by its ability to answer complicated questions. Critics believe Google’s search engine is too focused on maximizing revenue through prominent advertisements and too cautious about incorporating AI in how it responds to users’ searches.
Paul Buchheit (45), the leading developer behind Gmail, thinks Google’s dominance of search engines will be challenged soon.
Google may only be one or two years away from total disruption. He tweeted that AI would eliminate search engine results pages, as this is where they make the most money. “Even if they catch up on AI, they cannot fully deploy it without destroying their most valuable part of the business!” He continued.
Google’s core business model is that advertisers pay to have their links included alongside search query results in the hopes that users click on them.
“One thing that very few people recall is the pre-internet business Google killed: The Yellow Pages!” Although the Yellow Pages were once a successful business, Google made it so famous that no one used them anymore. He said that AI would do the same for web searches.
Google is working on its own AI. It is also researching voice and conversational search. The tech company purchased DeepMind, an AI firm, to further develop these areas.
“I think the most important and interesting thing to consider is how it will impact the search box. Is there an entirely new interface for search? Yes, it risks Google’s core business in search,’ David Friedberg, an ex-Google executive and entrepreneur said to the All In podcast.
When asked to ChatGPT: “Will sophisticated AI chatbots like ChatGPT end Google’s search engine dominance?”
ChatGPT provided a lengthy answer, so we asked for a shorter version. It replied: “It is unlikely that AI bots, even sophisticated ones, will be able to end Google’s dominance in search engines.”
“AI chatbots can perform specific tasks while search engines such as Google can search large amounts of information. AI chatbots are unlikely to be able to replace search engines within the next few years.
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