Google does not want to lose the web search monopoly. The engineers of the technology firm have been active lately testing products based on artificial intelligence and likely to be released publicly in the future. Documents seen by CNBC demonstrate the significant effort made to address the threat posed by ChatGPT.
Answers based on recent news
Thus, the cloud unit would work in particular on Atlas, an artificial intelligence project in response to the tools developed by OpenAI. More interestingly, Google teams would be invited to test the promising Apprentice Bard chatbot, a tool capable of answering questions similar to ChatGPT.
Based on Google LaMDA’s conversational technology, Apprentice Bard is reportedly providing much more relevant answers in recent weeks. The tool would actually be the successor to Meena, launched internally, but since abandoned. According to the first leaks, unlike the conversational agent of OpenAI, the Mountain View firm’s chatbot would be able to produce answers based on recent events. Is it connected directly to web data? Impossible to know at the moment.
Google search soon to be turned upside down?
A tester asked Apprentice Bard if further layoffs were to be feared at Google. A simple query answered by the agent: “According to my database access, Google is unlikely to make another round of layoffs in 2023. Layoffs are usually done to cut costs and structure, but the company is doing well financially. In fact, Google’s revenue grew 34% in 2021, and the company’s share price is up 70% since January 2022.” Factual information based on very recent knowledge.
At the same time, Google would test a new design for its search engine (Google Search) in order to integrate intelligent responses. A design seen by CNBC would describe a true revolution in homepage UX. The I’m lucky button could thus disappear to make room for the edition of question under the search bar.
A logo to signify the presence of an online chat could also appear at the right end of said bar. A question being entered, the search page would then display a gray bubble, with smarter answers than those currently generated by Google. First tests which give only a rough idea of the final ambitions of the firm.
“We believe AI is a founding and transformative technology that is incredibly useful for individuals, businesses and communities. And as our AI Principles emphasize, we need to consider the wider societal impacts these innovations can have.a Google spokesperson told our colleagues. We continue to test our AI technology internally to make sure it is useful and safe, and we look forward to sharing more experiences externally soon.”
