In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company’s plans to integrate conversational artificial intelligence (AI) features into its flagship search engine. Pichai expressed his belief that advancements in AI technology will significantly enhance Google’s ability to provide accurate answers to a wide range of search queries. He also dismissed reports that chatbots have had a negative impact on Google’s search business, which accounts for more than half of its revenue.
Google plans to leverage its expertise in developing large language models (LLMs) to enhance the search function, enabling it to process and respond to natural-language prompts in a more human-like manner. This move comes in response to Microsoft’s deployment of similar technology in its Bing search engine, which poses a significant threat to Google’s core business. Google is also facing pressure to cut costs, with plans to eliminate 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its staff, as announced by Alphabet in January.
To stay competitive, Google is proactively testing new search products, including versions that allow users to ask follow-up questions to their original queries. Additionally, Google has started testing AI features within Gmail and other work-related products, while Microsoft is expanding the use of AI beyond Bing to its business software tools.
Pichai emphasized that Google Brain and DeepMind, Google’s AI research organizations, will collaborate more closely to develop large algorithms that will enhance the search capabilities of the company. Similar to Microsoft, Google plans to leverage its investment in AI models to capture a wider share of the business market. When asked about the delayed release of a chatbot, Pichai explained that Google has been carefully assessing the right market for its implementation.
As of the latest update on Thursday, Google’s shares (GOOG) traded higher by 2.37% at $107.44, reflecting positive market sentiment towards Google’s AI integration plans for its search engine.
