Published on the 15/02/2023 | Written by Heather Wright

Where the future of search is conversational… 

Microsoft and Google are going head to head over the future of search with their plans for AI-enhanced search chatbots.  

Both announced plans last week for AI-powered conversational search, Microsoft with its plans to use the tech behind ChatGPT to enhance both its Bing search engine and the Edge web browser, and Google via the experimental Bard conversational AI service which will be integrated into its search facilities, using information from the internet to generate up-to-date responses and simplify complex topics.

“AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all – search.”

 

Launched a day before Microsoft’s Bing announcement, Google says Bard will use its latest AI technologies, such as the LaMDA (language model for dialogue applications) conversational neural language model, which was trained on billions of words on the internet, and Pathways language model (PaLM), Imagen image creator and MusicLM music creator. 

The offering will start with ‘a lightweight model version of LaMDA’ requiring less computing power and enabling Google to scale to more users – and gain more feedback quickly.  

Google has long been the king of search engines and a leader in AI innovation – though failing to integrate it into its search. Microsoft in comparison is a minor player in the search arena with Bing accounting for just three to nine percent of the search market depending on who you listen to, but has been stealing the limelight and headlines in recent weeks courtesy of ChatGPT, and has the advantage of a massive business customer base. 

ChatGPT may only have really burst onto the (mainstream) scene in recent months, but Microsoft first invested in ChatGPT developer OpenAI – to the tune of US$1 billion – more than three years ago. Since then, Microsoft and OpenAI have been cosying up. Just last month it announced a further $10 billion investment in OpenAI and plans to integrate OpenAI’s language AI into its suite of apps.  

For both, the promise of the AI-driven search lies in its ability to provide plain English results, rather than spitting out lists of links (something that could be somewhat of a conundrum for Google and its targeted advertising revenue). 

The ‘new Bing experience’ harnesses a next generation OpenAI large language model, customised for search, and which Microsoft claims is faster, more accurate and more capable than ChatGPT or GPT-3.5, the large language model behind ChatGPT. It will work alongside a new proprietary model, Prometheus, for ‘improved safety’ and more relevant, timely and targeted results.  

“AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all – search,” Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella says.  

More than one million people joined the waitlist for the new Bing in just 48 hours. (The first wave of invites to the service have reportedly now gone out.) 

Microsoft says the interactive chat in Bing will enable users to refine their search for more complex searches more easily, with the search providing more relevant results for simple things such as stock prices and sports scores. It’s promising Bing will also help you find the inspiration you need to, for example, write an email, create an itinerary for a dream vacation or even prep for a job interview or create a quiz.  

“Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distil complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web : whether that’s seeking out additional perspectives, like blogs from people who play both piano and guitar, or going deeper on a related topic, like steps to get started as a beginner,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet says. 

Fake it til you make it? 

But the public debut of Bard week also highlighted a key issue, when Bard confidently provided one answer in a promotional video saying that the James Webb Space Telescope was responsible for taking the first pictures of a planet outside Earth’s solar system. The flub – it was the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope which actually took the images – was quickly noted by industry watchers and saw Google take a US$163 billion hit as shares tumbled.  

It’s unlikely Microsoft’s Bing offering will escape similar issues. ChatGPT users have reported plenty of inaccuracies, with McKinsey noting that the offering sometimes ‘hallucinates’, confidently providing entirely inaccurate information to questions, and has no built-in mechanism to signal this to users or to challenge the result. 

Because of the way large language models are built – being trained on massive datasets to generate plausible-sounding responses in a similar style to predictive text – experts have warned that they are prone to errors.  

The FAQ page for Bing is open about the potential for errors and for Bing to ‘misrepresent’ the information it finds.  

“You may see responses that sound convincing but are incomplete, inaccurate or inappropriate. Use your own judgement and double-check the facts before making decisions or taking action based on Bing’s responses,” it notes.  

Bing’s AI interface will footnote its sources, Microsoft says. Google, meanwhile says it plans to adopt a principle called Nora – no one right answer. 

There’s another issue ahead for Google too: The risk of hurting its established US$150 billion search business. Every time we click on links and ads, Google takes a clip. It’s a business they won’t want to hurt.  

But single, synthesized answers may mean users don’t need to click on those links. Images provided by Google suggest Bard will provide an answer upfront, with links at the bottom – though whether users go beyond Bard to the search engine results page is questionable, especially when a further chat with Bard could refine your search. 

Noticeably, Pichai in the press conference announcing that the chatbot technology would be integrated into the search engine noted that people would be able to interact with the language models ‘as a companion to search in experimental and innovative ways’. 

Microsoft, meanwhile, claims that the ability to understand complex queries in greater depth and precision, as well as the insight Microsoft will gain into user intent through conversational engagement, will deliver ‘smarter and more actionable opportunities for advertisers to engage with customers’. 

“With deeply personalized experiences we expect to be able to deliver even more relevant messages to consumers, with the goal of improved ROI for advertisers. And as usage expands, we expect to see greater volume leading to more opportunities for advertisers to reach their desired customers.”

Either way, the phenomenal interest in ChatGPT, which signed up more than 100 million users in its first two months, suggests that this is one juggernaut that can’t be stopped, but that still has a long way to go before the winners are decided.

Image credit: Dall.E