AI plans leak from Google

Bing has been receiving AI functionality from Microsoft, which appears to have caught Google by surprise. There is no doubt that Google has ambitious plans for AI and search of its own, and some of these plans have just leaked.

The Wall Street Journal reports (opens in new tab) (via Android Police) that Google is planning to add its own AI chatbot to web searches, similar to what Microsoft has done. The company also intends to make search more "personal" and varied, by embedding short videos and social media posts alongside the standard list of links.

According to internal documents leaked from within Google, search could also become more visual, more snackable, and more "human" - so take from that what you will. It is anticipated that most of these changes will be implemented by the end of this year.

Magi appears to be the name of the AI bot that matches the ChatGPT-powered one in Bing. Last month, the New York Times reported the same thing, and development has apparently intensified in recent weeks.

In Google IO 2023, the key announcements will be made on Wednesday, May 10. This part of the Google search revamp is expected to debut at the event. Even though Google has already launched its Bard chatbot, it has not yet integrated it into its other products.

The purpose is to assist users in finding results and answers they would otherwise not be able to find through Google's current search interface. Within the next few months, you can expect to hear a lot more about artificial intelligence and new ways of searching from Google.

In 1998, Google revolutionized the way people search the web. Back in the early days of the internet, directories of websites categorised by topic and category were the most common way of finding information on the web.

In the past, Google was able to index the entire web without human assistance through automated crawling bots, but now there is a new generation of artificial intelligence that provides natural language answers to questions, provides additional details and nuance, simplifies complex subjects, and much more (as Bing AI has already demonstrated).

According to this report, Google is also seeking to engage website owners by offering attribution in search results as well. However, the question arises as to how new content to feed the AI will be written and paid for if users receive their answers from a chatbot without clicking on a link.

This new wave of AI innovation may be hard to predict, but it looks like we are leaving the old ways of searching the web behind for good - which will have major implications for consumers, search engines, and publishers.