Google News This week’s AI-infused developer event makes it clear that we’re on the cusp of a new era of research.
Following Microsoft’s molding of OpenAI technology into Bing, Google is experimenting with its own AI technology and unlocking new ways to use search. It’s clear that we’re about to see the first major overhauls of the Internet information search market in a very long time.
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As with all major developments in technology, these research changes will have widespread and long-lasting impacts. There will be winners and losers, and among the latter, at least according to first reviews of Google’s new search changeswill be sites hosting the writing.
Google and Bing will quickly become adept at using large language models to generate answers to questions, eliminating the need to visit websites to find answers. As a result, media companies, bloggers, and scrappy SaaS startups could see fewer visits to their websites and less attention to their offerings.
Until the generative AI rush, changes to search engine technology seemed incremental unless it was to monetize user activity. Google has worked for years to increase the number of answers users get on its search pages so they don’t go elsewhere, and sometimes has has smoothed its advertising load Thus, the search results highlight its customers more than websites that do not advertise.
Was it better for the Internet? I could say it’s not, but that’s pointless. I doubt that Google and its ilk will get rid of this commercial bias and create features that will prove good to end users at their own expense. They can’t afford to do that.
It’s only natural that Google and Bing don’t prioritize the needs of third-party websites over their own when building their technology.
