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ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

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Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#131

Post by briga »

coredog64 wrote: post #127
briga wrote: post #62

Au contraire, ChatGPT has already replaced search engines for me, at least for generalized knowledge searches. It provides better and more personalized answers to my questions than Google and is an excellent way to learn about new topics. It's not 100% accurate and can even be misleading, but that is hardly different than other search engines. Once more people catch on to how incredibly useful ChatGPT is its use will…

One of the challenges with ChatGPT compared to Google is that most employers, even the really paranoid ones, don’t mind you using a search engine to answer questions. That goes out the window for ChatGPT: My current employer won’t even let me use translate.google.com, let alone copy/paste some IP into someone else’s LLM.

I fully expect enterprise versions of ChatGPT to become widespread in the near-term. Modern tech firms already give their IP to dozens of third party tools and services, I don’t see why this should be any different

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#132

Post by coredog64 »

waynesonfire wrote: post #95
wut42 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course- it makes sense to run ChatGPT free now (reminded that it's an experiment) for training & betatesting. But running it even larger, and on a search engine ? It's a magnitude of difference imo, and totally different than a short-time bill for an experiment.

Who gives a shit how much it costs. The value is massive and 10x better than Google results. Are you comprehending what that means? After competing with Google for over 10 years with nothing to show for it, Microsoft is drooling over this technology.

There’s a very old story about Microsoft and Win 3.x pen computing. One of the leads was explaining that they worked on it, and someone else opined that it was too bad that they didn’t provide anything useful for MS. The lead replied that the goal wasn’t actually pen computing, it was a special teams “block that kick” play that kneecapped a competitor and so achieved its goal.

If MS can reduce the absolute firehose of money that ads provide to Google, it will totally be worth it even if it takes lighting money on fire to do it.

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#133

Post by schrodinger »

ranting-moth wrote: post #93

They might not replace them, but it fulfills a role that Google could do previously. Try to find out what type of a spring is in a spring clamp using google? "What type of a spring is in a spring clamp?" Or use whatever query you want. The top 10 results won't tell me the answer. Ask ChatGPT. It'll tell you (spoiler: it's a tension spring or a torsion spring. It's not a coil spring.) 8 out of 10 Google results are tr…

Hmmm, ChatGPT doesn't seem consistent:

Q: what type of spring is in a spring clamp?

A: Spring clamps are typically made with a type of spring called a helical spring or a coil spring. These springs are made of wire that is wound in a spiral shape and are used to store energy and apply a force when they are compressed or stretched. In a spring clamp, the helical spring is used to provide the clamping force that holds the clamp's jaws together. When the jaws of the clamp are opened, the spring is stretched, and when the jaws are closed, the spring is compressed, creating the clamping force. Spring clamps are commonly used in woodworking, metalworking, and other applications where a temporary hold is needed.

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#134

Post by sgc »

qayxc wrote: post #126
azemetre wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this any different than Google? The only thing Google exceeds at is serving you SEO garbage on every query.

Google results(plural!) give you alternatives and references, i.e. you know where each answer is coming from and SEO spam is easily identifiable. ChatGPT just gives you an answer that's confidentially wrong sometimes.

But isn't that just a UI problem at heart? It would be easy to ask for references for its conclusion.

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#135

Post by pattyj »

notahacker wrote: post #87
pattyj wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a way to disuade users from blindly trusting responses? Such as unavoidable caveats, make no attempt to provide depth and instead strongly recommend reliable research? And as a logical aside: if AI can't be trusted, we shouldn't trust AI's recommendations for reliable sources either.

> And as a logical aside: if AI can't be trusted, we shouldn't trust AI's recommendations for reliable sources either. Don't think that's automatically true though: an AI can be consistently excellent at retrieving reliable sources and still get a lot wrong on its summaries. Also humans have their own opinions on sources even when they're not familiar with the detail, and finding out if the AI reads Nature or 4chan i…

Sure. Really, I was thinking of the scenario where someone explictly asks for a reliable source i.e. "Thanks for summary about X. To whom should I turn for more accurate/detailed information?"

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#136

Post by pwdisswordfisha »

axiom92 wrote: post #25
cs702 wrote: post #6

...But ChatGPT's successors just might . I, for one, look forward to a future in which I can ask a digital assistant to find and summarize information on anything: "Computer, please find out how GPS works and explain it to me like I'm five years old." "Computer, what are the latest Covid-19 infection stats in my city?" "Computer, who is Claude Shannon and why is he important?" "Computer, what are the top three storie…

"Computer, please find out how GPS works and explain it to me like I'm five years old." ChatGPT: GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It is a way that we can figure out where we are in the world using special satellites. Imagine you are standing outside and you see lots of stars in the sky. Well, GPS works kind of like that, but instead of stars, there are satellites orbiting the Earth. These satellites are way…

I'd be more impressed if it explained set-theoretic forcing on that level.

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#137

Post by croes »

ranting-moth wrote: post #93

They might not replace them, but it fulfills a role that Google could do previously. Try to find out what type of a spring is in a spring clamp using google? "What type of a spring is in a spring clamp?" Or use whatever query you want. The top 10 results won't tell me the answer. Ask ChatGPT. It'll tell you (spoiler: it's a tension spring or a torsion spring. It's not a coil spring.) 8 out of 10 Google results are tr…

I bet google could deliver the answer but they need to serve ads.

Same would happen with ChatGPT. As soon they need to make money without charging the users directly, its answers will change.

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#138

Post by schrodinger »

ben_w wrote: post #65
theteapot wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did ChatGPT come up with this, or just rip it off from some place(s) without attribution?

I've seen this sort of response a lot lately, both for GPT and all the image generators. Google, and all the other search engines, literally show snippets of the original content to display search results, and have had copyright infringement lawsuits over this. Yet somehow, it's taken these AI, which generally aren't just block-quoting things unless you ask them to (and often getting it wrong if you do), for non-lawy…

Is it any different than an infinitely capable human reading the entire internet and using the knowledge it gained to answer questions?

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#139

Post by throwuxiytayq »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #22

Try to Google: Does Jeff Bezos shop at Whole Foods?

Precisely my experience with 95% of stuff I google.

I don’t know if that’s just the nature of the things I usually search for (primarily technical subjects where the query shouldn’t be “dumbed down” and reinterpreted or you get a completely different meaning), but I’ve become incredibly dissatisfied with Google over the past few years. I imagine it’s a fine search engine if you’re looking up the URL for Netflix.

Re: ChatGPT won’t replace search engines any time soon

#140

Post by crabmusket »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #56
jakeinspace wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The second half of that explanation is completely wrong though, isn’t it? There is no active signal being sent from your GPS antenna, no two-way communication.

The first half is wrong too. GPS has nothing to do with satellites being able to see lots of things from high up. The whole thing is just nonsense that looks plausibly like an explanation until you try to decipher it.

I didn't even notice that bit (maybe GPT is a flat-earther?).

Something GPT discourse has been demonstrating to me is that I'm not usually a very careful reader. I apparently skim a lot. Or maybe I skim GPT outputs because I'm biased in my expectations already?

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