The popular AI chatbot ChatGPT has sparked discussions around different industries, ranging from tech to education and marketing. If you ask the bot what it is, it provides an interesting answer. In its own description, ChatGPT is “an AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI, based on the GPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) language model. It uses deep learning techniques to generate human-like responses to text inputs in a conversational manner.” The AI chatbot is taking the tech world by storm, within its first two months of launch it had amassed over 100million monthly active users, a feat TikTok only managed to achieve in nine. From assisting copywriters and tech companies to helping students with their homework, the chatbot’s popularity is soaring at a rate nobody could’ve expected. It has brought about a revolution in widely accessible AI so much so that it has now been paired with Microsoft’s search engine browser Bing. But what are the long term implications of ChatGPT’s use and will this new update result in a power shift in the search engine landscape?
What do ChatGPT and Bard do?
ChatGPT and its competitor Bard are designed to simulate human-like conversations by responding to user prompts. The chatbot is capable of imitating conversation, answering queries, admitting errors, declining unsuitable prompts, and challenging flawed assumptions. There have been reports of teachers suggesting that it could also assist with writing and grading essays written by school children. The AI is so advanced that ChatGPT recently passed graduate level legal exams in America; some states in the U.S. and Australia have even banned it’s use in schools for this reason. AI Chatbots are becoming essential for copywriters and tech companies across the world. The aim for these search engines is to use AI to help users across multiple industries, for instance, they want to make it easier for users planning on betting at various Irish casino sites. It’s a very impressive tool but there are still improvements to be made.
Room for improvement
Despite getting a lot of hype across a number of industries when it was launched to great acclaim last year, it’s been noted that ChatGPT certainly still has some issues with accuracy, and can sound quite confident when providing information that is just plainly false. The tool falls short if you’re interested in learning about current events and news and that’s a big problem. ChatGPT’s knowledge is limited to information from before 2021, and thus it cannot provide answers for queries related to content created after that time. Additionally, the chatbot does not disclose the source of its information when generating answers, even if they pertain to events and facts it has been trained on. Perhaps, what is more concerning is the amount of offensive responses it has generated to people’s searches. And there is precedent with this sort of thing with AI chatbots. In 2016, Microsoft had to issue and apology after a Twitter chatbot, Tay, began generating racist and sexist messages. Tay was ultimately forced to shut down the bot due to users tweeting hateful remarks at Tay, which it then remembered and repeated.
Among its content were comparisons of feminism tocancer and the promotion of the idea that the Holocaust did not occur. There are also fears that the tool could be abused in the workplace and schools, with students using the chatbot to generate essays for homework, and hackers exploiting it to write malicious code for their own gain. Despite the obvious downsides and controversy surrounding the AI tool’s emergence, Microsoft have ploughed on unveiling its new Bing search engine which incorporates ChatGPT.
What will the Bing update look like?
A demo version of the website update including ChatGPT is presently available, offering a selection of predetermined search terms to test out the new feature. After inputting a query you are presented with a familiar-looking list of hyperlinks, but on the right side is a small box containing a response generated by the bot. And for the meantime, Microsoft’s move to partner the OpenAI developed technology with their search engine appears to have been a success. Due to its ability to access the internet, it is significantly more valuable when it comes to answering everyday queries. By utilizing sources, the credibility of the information is significantly enhanced, and the possibility of misinterpretation or inaccuracies is eliminated. You will be able to do a complex and technical search, follow up, and make refinements by adjusting the inputs in chat to get a more accurate response. Unlike in traditional google searches, you will be able to get precise answers instead of being overwhelmed by options. Bing’s latest feature, resembling ChatGPT, will enhance user experience by enabling them to engage in real conversations with the search engine. Users can follow up on previous queries and provide more context to refine their searches. Just like you would with a friend, you will be able to chat with Bing and continue the dialogue until you find the answer you’re looking for. This is a game-changer in the search engine world and Google are looking for an emphatic response.
The announcement from Microsoft that they were pairing ChatGPT with Bing was promptly followed up with Google’s announcement of their own AI chatbot, Bard. The company entering the fray with so quickly shows how concerned they are about the market share they could lose out on if ChatGPT were as successful in the search engine world as it has been in its first two months since launch. The tech giant had sought to regain ground on their Microsoft counterparts with the launch but seemingly buckled under the pressure instead. A promotional blunder on a tweet where Bard was shown to have given an incorrect response to a question on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope saw Google’s parent company lose around $100billion in market value losing yet more ground to Microsoft in this emerging AI war. The surging popularity of ChatGPT combined with Google’s botched launch seems to have given Microsoft the upper hand here in the tech companies’ colossal contest for market share in the search engine sphere. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is a done deal, there is still a very long way to go yet. Although ChatGPT has attracted millions of users since its release, they are still very much the underdogs in a fight against the world’s most used search engine with an almost impervious reputation. Most definitely, Google with all its resources will seek to “bounce back” and have the resources to do so in a way that’s healthy for competition. Ultimately, the determining factor will be which entity offers the most exceptional user experience and fulfills the greatest number of customer requirements.