For the past 25 years, Google has been the undisputed leader in Internet search, becoming as commonplace as making a phone call. However, generative artificial intelligence is emerging as a wave that could radically transform this landscape.
Keyword-based queries and lists of links seem to be becoming obsolete in the face of interactions with interfaces such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, capable of having conversations with humans and generating text from a simple request.
Microsoft has embraced the idea of integrating a conversational bot similar to ChatGPT into Bing, its search engine. The new Bing responds directly to queries rather than presenting a page full of links for the user to explore.
These technologies allow search engines to do the heavy lifting for users and provide more direct and relevant answers. In addition, Google and Microsoft are adding generative artificial intelligence tools to their services, from cloud computing to word processing.
While these innovations promise to make finding information easier, they also pose challenges. The ability of AI bots to interact like humans presents difficulties in distinguishing reliable information from false information.
In short, generative artificial intelligence is changing the way we search for information on the Internet. Google and Microsoft are leading the adoption of these technologies, but the future of online search is constantly evolving, and how it will fully develop is yet to be determined.