The rise of the AI chatbot ChatGPT seems to be what Google perceives as its greatest existential threat.
Microsoft’s recent multi-billion dollar stake in OpenAI and subsequent integration of the ChatGPT platform into its Bing search quickly forced Google to launch its own AI platform, Bard, in February.
Currently, Google has a 93% share of the global search engine market, according to Statcounter.
While there has been anecdotal evidence of the younger generations bypassing Google in favor of search options on social media platforms like TikTok, the hegemony of Google over the Internet search industry spans more than two decades.
Still, reports of Samsung considering making Bing the default search engine on its devices are creating internal panic at Google, according to The New York Times.
Google pays Samsung over $3 billion per year to serve as the default search engine on the South Korean company’s phones. The same deal with Apple runs Google $20 billion a year and is also up for renewal in 2023, per the NYT.
Google is now playing catchup in AI search, integrating its current search with AI tools. Ultimately, the company plans to build an updated search engine powered by the new technology, the NYT reported. The new project, Magi, looks to create a new search engine that would provide a more personal experience than the current one by anticipating users’ needs.
“Not every brainstorm deck or product idea leads to a launch, but as we’ve said before, we’re excited about bringing new A.I.-powered features to search, and will share more details soon,” Google spokeswoman Lara Levin said in a statement, per the NYT.
Google is familiar with the AI space but has hesitated to fully integrate the technology into its search due to its susceptibility to creating bias and false statements, an issue that ChatGPT is battling.
But Samsung’s consideration of switching to Bing for search has seemingly kicked Google into high gear to win the war for AI-powered search.
Although Google’s new search engine has no definitive launch date, it is expected to be more conversational, akin to ChatGPT’s chatbot configuration. It would likely offer preselected lists for users based on their prior search history, according to the NYT.
Until the new search engine is unveiled, the Magi project will add AI features to the current iteration of Google’s search, with 160 people working full-time on the project, per the NYT.
The new features are expected to launch next month in a beta test with up to 1 million people and are expected to reach 30 million by the end of 2023.
