Artificial intelligence has taken the spotlight once again, and this time it’s all about quick, detailed responses in a humanlike manner. A new generation of AI chatbots has unleashed a battle between Microsoft and Google, driven by the pressure arising from the popularity of ChatGPT.
Microsoft has gone all-in with a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the firm behind the fastest-growing consumer application in history. What seems to be an ‘overnight success,’ ChatGPT was estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users just two months after launch.
Microsoft aims to revolutionize its Bing search engine and Edge web browser using the generative AI technology. On the other hand, Google has owned the search market for two decades and released its in-house bot Bard.
Unfortunately, Google’s stock tanked while Microsoft’s shot up as Bard’s first demo included a factual error about the James Webb Space Telescope. Employees are saying that the company was “rushing” Bard to market.
In parallel to this, Google’s $400 million investment in AI startup Anthropic is focused on developing and deploying Claude, an AI assistant based on the company's research into building safe, steerable AI.
According to its official statement, Anthropic has created safety techniques like Constitutional AI to create AI technologies that are easier to rely on and understand.
“We are eager to use the Google Cloud infrastructure to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. This partnership with Google Cloud will let us build a more robust AI platform,” said Antropic CEO Dario Amodei.
Additionally, Chinese firm Baidu announced its own bot called “Wenxin Yiyan” in Chinese or “ERNIE Bot” in English, which stands for “Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration.” It will launch in March and is currently being tested internally.
Large language models are being used to train the algorithms that are being utilized by ChatGPT and its rivals.
This can trigger future search engines to not only produce lists of links but give the user coherent and full answers using multiple sources.
An industry analyst said that Google's search business risked being torpedoed by innovations in AI, but there is indeed still a long way to go before AI chatbots successfully finds its way useful than search engines.
Apart from search engine giants, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is also working to match the popular AI-powered chatbot that OpenAI introduced.
On the downside, issues of plagiarism, manipulation, identity theft, financial fraud and tarnish reputations have sparked global alarm in the rise of AI chatbots.
Deepfakes, which use technology similar to chatbots to create accurate digital doppelgangers, present a danger to national security and social stability. This is the reason why US lawmakers' attention is perked with questions about this AI phenomenon’s impact as well on national security and education.