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Ask HN: Is ChatGPT + Plugins a Google Killer?

11 points by behnamoh 4y ago

Now that it can access the internet, why on earth would anyone Google anything and then go through all the SEO-optimized spam to finally find what they searched for?

themodelplumber 4y ago
I think it'll be interesting to see the afterparty for search, so to speak. Can search compete or complement? Who Are You is a good demo of some possibilities in that area and I like it so far.[1] Sometimes it's nice to get an answer + web results. 1. https://you.com/search?q=who+are+you&tbm=youchat&cfr=chat https://you.com/search?q=who+are+you&tbm=youchat&cfr=chat
adxmcollins 4y ago
Google is gonna have to sort out search ads otherwise yeah, when this tech improves and is more widely adopted then they're in serious trouble
alpaca128 4y ago
I wonder how this will pan out in the long term, sooner or later SEO targeting AI models might ruin that too.
- smoldesu 4y ago
  I doubt it. It's funny to think about, but the moment this becomes a real issue, people will revert back to a hashed/archived version of "The Pile" and cherry pick all the updated training material. I hate to be the cyberpunk party pooper, but it just doesn't seem like a threatening outcome to me.
smoldesu 4y ago
> why on earth would anyone Google anything Because it's easier, faster, cheaper, and gives me qualified results from people I trust. You can pry my search engine from my cold, dead hands. ChatGPT is a nice tool but utterly useless for many things people use search for. If you trust ChatGPT to read you a recipe from the internet, I prescribe you to 30 minutes of browsing an AI fearmongering subreddit.
robertheadley 4y ago
When the new bing launched, I decided to switch from Firefox/Google to a predominately Edge/Bing flow. It it is mostly fine, The Edge browser is a good web browser. But Bing just doesn't display results in the right order, where as Google does. They still have the sauce. That being said, The progress that Bing is making is wonderful. Bing works great on granular searches though.
- bibanez 4y ago
  There are extensions that allow you to use bing chat from any browser! If you want to go back to firefox and use the chat you still can, just a heads up
claranceliberi 4y ago
When ChatGPT starts providing accurate answers to queries and gets opened to be used for free. I think Google will be at huge risk. Unless google surprises us.
qup 4y ago
I think for me personally, it will be. Someone will figure out how to keep it reading until it corroborates its source a couple times, then report back. I don't see why this can't be done right now, although perhaps it's not cost effective, who knows.
starside 4y ago
Sometimes getting what you want quickly is a double edged sword. I used Google a lot in grad school, which brought up many relevant and helpful results. I switched to using books as much as possible. While slower, I learned lots of things I didn't know I didn't know, because I had to read through enough of the book to find what I needed. In the process, I learned things I would not have with a search engine.
- abhayhegde 4y ago
  While that's true when you would like a meaningful learning experience, a lot of times search is aimed to obtain a factual answer (especially if it exists). I'm of the opinion that for a lot of questions with no deep answer required, Google would have to struggle against ChatGPT as per the current state of things.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ActorNightly 4y ago
Google won't die, Android is hard tied to Google. In terms of desktop search, Microsoft is going to have to sort out all the bugs to build trust.
- Valgrim 4y ago
  Bing works fine on Android
  - ActorNightly 4y ago
    For now. If Bing starts replacing all the search on android and touching android revenue, im sure Google will do the same thing that Apple did. Google literally lives and dies by their ads.
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  Die doesn’t matter - that takes decades maybe a century. Shrink/grow is the question.
okdood64 4y ago
For the vast majority of people in the world Bard is, at the moment, superior. ChatGPT's responses are TOO detailed, and it also has no clue about current events. Imagine how many people just search Google for what's going on in the world lately. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35290982 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35290982 That said for technical folks, ChatGPT is much more useful.
- silisili 4y ago
  Bard is terrible at parsing in my short time with it. I asked if it could answer a riddle, and it responded by asking me riddles. When I said no, I'll ask the riddle, it asked me another one.
crop_rotation 4y ago
It doesn't have to kill Google. If it can force google to integrate expensive LLMs (compared to current search), it will impact search margins which is what all of Google depends on. If search stops printing money, it will have a drastic impact on Google, since Search subsidises tons of other not profitable ventures (even GCP is not profitable) A company this size doesn't die easily though. Even IBM is still alive and making money.
- abhayhegde 4y ago
  That's a valuable point. Impact on margins is what I'm curious to see. Given the current rate of competition, I don't think we could ever see the current margins again for Google, how many ever years down the line. I wonder if the market is discounting this point of view already.

11 points by behnamoh 4y ago

Now that it can access the internet, why on earth would anyone Google anything and then go through all the SEO-optimized spam to finally find what they searched for?

themodelplumber 4y ago

I think it'll be interesting to see the afterparty for search, so to speak. Can search compete or complement? Who Are You is a good demo of some possibilities in that area and I like it so far.[1] Sometimes it's nice to get an answer + web results. 1. https://you.com/search?q=who+are+you&tbm=youchat&cfr=chat https://you.com/search?q=who+are+you&tbm=youchat&cfr=chat

adxmcollins 4y ago

Google is gonna have to sort out search ads otherwise yeah, when this tech improves and is more widely adopted then they're in serious trouble

alpaca128 4y ago

I wonder how this will pan out in the long term, sooner or later SEO targeting AI models might ruin that too.

smoldesu 4y ago
I doubt it. It's funny to think about, but the moment this becomes a real issue, people will revert back to a hashed/archived version of "The Pile" and cherry pick all the updated training material. I hate to be the cyberpunk party pooper, but it just doesn't seem like a threatening outcome to me.

smoldesu 4y ago

> why on earth would anyone Google anything Because it's easier, faster, cheaper, and gives me qualified results from people I trust. You can pry my search engine from my cold, dead hands. ChatGPT is a nice tool but utterly useless for many things people use search for. If you trust ChatGPT to read you a recipe from the internet, I prescribe you to 30 minutes of browsing an AI fearmongering subreddit.

robertheadley 4y ago

When the new bing launched, I decided to switch from Firefox/Google to a predominately Edge/Bing flow. It it is mostly fine, The Edge browser is a good web browser. But Bing just doesn't display results in the right order, where as Google does. They still have the sauce. That being said, The progress that Bing is making is wonderful. Bing works great on granular searches though.

bibanez 4y ago
There are extensions that allow you to use bing chat from any browser! If you want to go back to firefox and use the chat you still can, just a heads up

claranceliberi 4y ago

When ChatGPT starts providing accurate answers to queries and gets opened to be used for free. I think Google will be at huge risk. Unless google surprises us.

qup 4y ago

I think for me personally, it will be. Someone will figure out how to keep it reading until it corroborates its source a couple times, then report back. I don't see why this can't be done right now, although perhaps it's not cost effective, who knows.

starside 4y ago

Sometimes getting what you want quickly is a double edged sword. I used Google a lot in grad school, which brought up many relevant and helpful results. I switched to using books as much as possible. While slower, I learned lots of things I didn't know I didn't know, because I had to read through enough of the book to find what I needed. In the process, I learned things I would not have with a search engine.

abhayhegde 4y ago
While that's true when you would like a meaningful learning experience, a lot of times search is aimed to obtain a factual answer (especially if it exists). I'm of the opinion that for a lot of questions with no deep answer required, Google would have to struggle against ChatGPT as per the current state of things.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ActorNightly 4y ago

Google won't die, Android is hard tied to Google. In terms of desktop search, Microsoft is going to have to sort out all the bugs to build trust.

Valgrim 4y ago
Bing works fine on Android
- ActorNightly 4y ago
  For now. If Bing starts replacing all the search on android and touching android revenue, im sure Google will do the same thing that Apple did. Google literally lives and dies by their ads.
quickthrower2 4y ago
Die doesn’t matter - that takes decades maybe a century. Shrink/grow is the question.

okdood64 4y ago

For the vast majority of people in the world Bard is, at the moment, superior. ChatGPT's responses are TOO detailed, and it also has no clue about current events. Imagine how many people just search Google for what's going on in the world lately. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35290982 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35290982 That said for technical folks, ChatGPT is much more useful.

silisili 4y ago
Bard is terrible at parsing in my short time with it. I asked if it could answer a riddle, and it responded by asking me riddles. When I said no, I'll ask the riddle, it asked me another one.

crop_rotation 4y ago

It doesn't have to kill Google. If it can force google to integrate expensive LLMs (compared to current search), it will impact search margins which is what all of Google depends on. If search stops printing money, it will have a drastic impact on Google, since Search subsidises tons of other not profitable ventures (even GCP is not profitable) A company this size doesn't die easily though. Even IBM is still alive and making money.

abhayhegde 4y ago
That's a valuable point. Impact on margins is what I'm curious to see. Given the current rate of competition, I don't think we could ever see the current margins again for Google, how many ever years down the line. I wonder if the market is discounting this point of view already.