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Bard and new AI features in Search

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Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#171

Post by dizzydes »

theonlybutlet wrote: post #143
dizzydes wrote: post #46

> Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search Despite this blog obviously being written for Wall St, this line is key. This is why anyone is going to struggle to compete with Google in AI. Google Search is used so widely and its taxonomy of meaning so vast already that once they flip this on they’ll be unstoppable. (Assuming any rate of improvement whatsoever as we search.) I’m not mentioning all other learning da…

I don't think it's that clearcut. These AI queries are resource intensive. Google will have to cut a fine line between quality and profit margin. If it's no good people just won't bother and it won't gain traction. The searches we make are already analyzed and all models tend to use billions of parameters anyway, even self generated. Google also are limited by their risk aversion, as seen in this extremely sanitized…

1. ChatGPT have made a decent go of it on a much smaller budget

2. Wall St tends to be very forgiving when the investment is something with a strong a moat as AI. Metaverse is an example of what happens when they don’t believe…

3. With a few exceptions like weather, their current searches provide links to static pages others have built, so much of their understanding and analysis is going to waste. Giving custom results breaks through that.

Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#172

Post by returningfory2 »

andrewstuart wrote: post #60

Lotus 123, Borland and Wordperfect were at the top of the software world. They failed to make the transition to GUIs/Windows. Microsoft missed the arrival of the web. Microsoft also missed the mobile revolution and ended up with zero mobile operating system market share. Internet Explorer, having vanquished Netscape, declared "job done" and stopped developing the web browser further, only to be cast to irrelevance fo…

I feel like all the examples you give are actually counter examples to the thesis that Google will decline?

Like, those are all examples of companies which failed to adapt to some new reality. This announcement is Google seeing AI as the next thing and proactively engaging with it.

Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#173

Post by miramba »

andrewstuart wrote: post #60

Lotus 123, Borland and Wordperfect were at the top of the software world. They failed to make the transition to GUIs/Windows. Microsoft missed the arrival of the web. Microsoft also missed the mobile revolution and ended up with zero mobile operating system market share. Internet Explorer, having vanquished Netscape, declared "job done" and stopped developing the web browser further, only to be cast to irrelevance fo…

The results of Google today really look like Altavista in 1999. I started using you.com, which looks like Google 10 years ago. You get actual non-SEO-optimized search results on the first page. I‘m sure that will change once more people use it, but at the moment I have a working search engine again.

Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#174

Post by samwillis »

dizzydes wrote: post #46

> Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search Despite this blog obviously being written for Wall St, this line is key. This is why anyone is going to struggle to compete with Google in AI. Google Search is used so widely and its taxonomy of meaning so vast already that once they flip this on they’ll be unstoppable. (Assuming any rate of improvement whatsoever as we search.) I’m not mentioning all other learning da…

Google is on a collision course with regulators over search. If they are seen to be taking yet more content and knowledge from websites and "republishing" it they are going to find themselves with large fines and sanctions.

I think they are too "big" to really push AI, it needs smaller companies willing to take a higher risk.

Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#175

Post by qwertox »

There's a Product from Google which I like very much: "Discover" in Google Chrome on Android devices.

It is similar to what the normal "Google" app offers: snippets with links to articles which may either be currently relevant for me (currently as in: this day you searched a lot for X, so we recommend you Y), or which may be a bit older but still of interest to me. A personalized Google News but much less news oriented.

I don't use this in the "Google" app, because there the link-sharing is broken: it only shares the link, while in Google Chrome the share button shares the link but also provides the title of the article.

The point is that I want have this "Discover" feature on Google Chrome on the desktop, not only on the phone or on the tablet. I don't use my phone for browsing and my tablet only when in bed. I'm a desktop-first person. There I have 3 monitors, a surface where I can place my cup tea and my pencil.

Google is telling me: We don't want your behavior. We want you to use a phone or a tablet, we will reward you for this behavior by granting you access to the our analysis of the information which we aggregated about you. Else we'll punish you by not giving you this tool.

I wonder where they will be offering Bard, and at this point, I'm close to considering using Bing, which was always out of question for me.

The current message from their CEO: who cares? Publish it, let us see for ourselves what it can do.

Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#177

Post by c7b »

rom-antics wrote: post #40
neosat wrote: post #13

The blog post is an example of why when you go through a number of edits and additions from various internal groups, marketing, legal, compliance etc. you end up with a message that's a lot of words but not a lot of information for any key audience. I went through the article 3 times thinking I missed the link to try out Bard, get some sense of timeline, roll-out plan...nothing. Come on Google...

It seems like a very reactionary move. ChatGPT went viral, and now they have to rush something to market to try and compete. So of course the product doesn't exist yet, but they've had enough time to put together a project plan and some mockups. It's not a great position to be in.

It is a bit surprising that Google got scooped by OpenAI, but the product surely has existed before ChatGPT went public. LaMDA was the model behind the 'Our AI has become sentient' controversy last year, if you remember that [0].

[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-...

Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#178

Post by dougmwne »

enneff wrote: post #121
dougmwne wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing concrete available today because Google is scrambling to get ahead of a major announcement from Microsoft on integrating GPT into Bing. Internal sources from MS are saying it might be the first we see of GPT-4.

Why do you say google is scrambling when they have been working on AI stuff just as impressive as OpenAI, which you could spin differently to say Microsoft “scrambled” to make a partnership with and are now attempting to cram GPT into their tech stack. FWIW I don’t think either company are really scrambling except in the performative sense of making announcements to appease the market.

Because while Google has been researching, OpenAI has been productizing. We will have to judge it once we get access to Bard, but it’s possible Google is years behind on creating a chat model that won’t spew toxic waste, as GPT-3 did when it was first released a few years ago.

Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#179

Post by jxf »

dougmwne wrote: post #73
dizzydes wrote: post #46

> Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search Despite this blog obviously being written for Wall St, this line is key. This is why anyone is going to struggle to compete with Google in AI. Google Search is used so widely and its taxonomy of meaning so vast already that once they flip this on they’ll be unstoppable. (Assuming any rate of improvement whatsoever as we search.) I’m not mentioning all other learning da…

Yes, but will their revenue survive flipping that switch or will that kill the golden Adsense goose?

This is a huge revenue opportunity. Google would not be investing in it if it wasn't.

Re: Bard and new AI features in Search

#180

Post by sleton38234234 »

alexb_ wrote: post #9

>AI can be helpful in these moments, synthesizing insights for questions where there’s no one right answer. Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web: whether that’s seeking out additional perspectives, like blogs from people who play both piano and gui…

i for one, hope that the AI will mostly stick to analyzing the content, rather than search intent because Google has had a history of misreading my search intent, quite frequently.
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