MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) – Google revealed Wednesday plans to introduce more advanced artificial intelligence technology to its dominant search engine. This is a countermeasure to one of the biggest threats to the company’s long-established position as the Internet’s main gateway. .
A gradual change to how Google’s search engine works will roll out three months after Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Since Apple launched the original iPhone 16 years ago, it has started using the same technology that powers ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot that created one of Silicon Valley’s biggest stories.
Alphabet-owned Google is already testing its own conversational chatbot called Bard. The product, powered by a technology called generative AI, also driven by ChatGPT, was only available to people who were accepted from a waiting list. But Google announced Wednesday that Bard will be available in more than 180 countries and languages other than English.
Bard’s multilingual expansion starts with Japanese and Korean, and plans to add about 40 more languages.
Google is now ready to experiment with AI realms in its own search engine. Search engines have been synonymous with finding anything on the internet for the past two decades, serving as the backbone of a digital advertising empire that generated over $220 billion in revenue last year.
“We are at an exciting tipping point,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told a packed developer conference in a speech that interspersed AI references. “We are reimagining all our products, including search.”
Google’s Gmail will introduce more AI technology, such as a ‘Help Me Write’ option that creates long replies to emails in seconds, and a photo tool called ‘Magic Editor’ that automatically processes photos. is.
The shift to AI will begin cautiously with the search engine, which serves as Google’s crown jewel.
This deliberate approach reflects the balancing act Google must negotiate in order to remain on the cutting edge while maintaining its reputation for providing reliable search results, but this mantle: It can be undermined by artificial intelligence’s tendency to fabricate information that sounds authoritative.
Tendency to produce seemingly convincing answers to questions — a phenomenon euphemistically described as ‘hallucinations’ — Already happened during early testing of BardLike ChatGPT, it relies on generative AI technology that is still evolving.
Google Takes Next Step in AI Through Newly Founded Search Lab Here, people in the United States can join the waiting list and test how generative AI is incorporated into search results. This test also includes more traditional links to external websites where users can read more extensive information on the queried topic. It could be several weeks before Google starts sending out invitations to users who have accepted it from the waiting list to test its AI-powered search engine.
The AI results are clearly tagged as experimental technology, and Google promises that the AI-generated summaries will be more factual than conversational. This is in stark contrast to Bard and ChatGPT, which are programmed to convey a more human persona. Google has built in guardrails to prevent the AI built into its search engine from answering sensitive health questions such as “Should I give Tylenol to my 3-year-old?” — and financial matters. In such cases, Google will continue to direct people to trusted websites.
Google does not predict how long it will take for their search engine to include AI-generated results for all users. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has been under intense pressure to demonstrate how its search engine maintains leadership since Microsoft began putting AI into Bing, but Bing is still ahead of Google. It is the second place after.
Alphabet’s stock initially plummeted because of this potential threat, but has recently recovered to levels seen when Bing unveiled its AI plans in a big way. Most recently, the New York Times reported that Samsung was considering pulling out of Google. It’s been adopted as the default search engine on widely used smartphones, and unless Google shows its search engine can evolve with what it sees as the coming AI-driven revolution, Apple won’t do the same for the iPhone. Concerns about adopting tactics are growing.
Alphabet’s shares jumped 4% on Wednesday after Google’s spate of AI announcements, closing at $111.75, the highest since Bing began integrating ChatGPT in early February.
Google, which is starting to incorporate AI into its search engine, aims to make Bard smarter by connecting it to next-generation large datasets known as “Large Language Models” (LLMs) that power Bard. . The LLM that Bard relies on is called the Pathways Language Model. or PaLM. Google’s search engine AI leverages next-generation PaLM2 and another technology known as the multitasking integration model. Or mom.
We’ll have to wait and see how Google’s search engine employs generative AI to find answers, but new tools will soon be widely available to all users. Google will add a new filter called “Perspectives” that will focus on what people are saying online about any topic typed into the search engine. This new feature sits in line with existing search filters for news, images and videos.
In addition to using its annual tech showcase to tout its prowess in AI, Google also unveiled the first foldable smartphone in its Pixel lineup of gadgets. Google’s entry into a new type of smartphone design that allows users to deploy the device as a mini-tablet comes almost three years after Samsung. The leading manufacturer of smartphones powered by Google’s Android software has unveiled its first bendable model.
Flip phones have so far remained a niche market, largely due to prices between $1,500 and $2,000. About 14 million foldable phones were sold around the world last year, according to research firm International Data Corp, but that’s just 1% of all smartphone shipments.
Google’s foldable Pixel smartphone will retail for $1,800 and start shipping next month. It unfolds on a hinge and of course is packed with AI.
