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What is the upside for google? Their business is advertising and they have a massive platform for this already. What does a chatbot add? Showing that they are

What is the upside for google? Their business is advertising and they have a massive platform for this already. What does a chatbot add? Showing that they are keeping up with evolving technology and that they also can train a competitive offering? From a pride perspective I see why they'd want to compete with OpenAI but from a business perspective? GPT+Bing has come and gone... I'm sure google worries about their business model being disrupted by LLMs but it's clear the mere existence of a chatbot isn't enough. So why rush to a competitive commerical offering?

user_named 3y ago
Cloud.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
taneq 3y ago
Bing is pretty damn useful these days, I've asked it random technical stuff a bunch of times and it's come back with a direct answer where Google would have me thrashing around trying to come up with the right keywords, then reading a bunch of links myself to find the answer. It's good for "I don't even know the name of the thing I'm looking for" type stuff. Disclaimer: I haven't used Google Search much in a long while so my googlefu is weak. I can usually find what I'm looking for much quicker in DDG which I believe is mostly based on Bing web search results (as opposed to the chatbot) so I might just currently be better trained in Bing keywords?
theptip 3y ago
What's in it for Google is not getting disrupted by OpenAI and losing their entire business, if it turns out that Chat is the new Search. While we seem to be cresting the peak of exuberance and coasting towards the trough of disillusionment, recall how freaked out everybody got a few months ago when everybody started using ChatGPT; Google's stock price tanked and they were getting slaughtered by analysts, so they needed to show a return to dominance on AI. I think if you had ChatGPT but with up-to-date information, you'd see a pretty big substitution effect from Google's search product, so it's better for them to "disrupt themselves" than have another company steal their golden goose. OpenAI competition aside, it's just clearly (to me) going to be a massive product area in the future, and it's going to be lucrative for AdTech companies like Google if they can build the right product (chat sessions are going to be even more valuable for ad placement than search queries).
- Someone 3y ago
  But to avoid being disrupted, I don’t think they have to have a product out today. Also, as is always the case in these “established giant vs nimble newcomer” cases, they have more to lose than OpenAI, and thus have to be more careful than them in what they release. For Google, that’s doubly so, given that they’re the portal to product search for half the world. Let’s say they release a product that (rightfully or not) starts claiming a product of one of their large advertisers is expensive and doesn’t work? What if it stops mentioning some products because it ‘thinks’ nobody should buy them? How be confident their offering isn’t biased, racist or sexist? > and it's going to be lucrative for AdTech companies like Google Would it? The true disruptor would direct you to the product that’s best for you, irrespective or how much its seller is wanting to bribe it to make that suggestion.

user_named 3y ago

Cloud.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

taneq 3y ago

Bing is pretty damn useful these days, I've asked it random technical stuff a bunch of times and it's come back with a direct answer where Google would have me thrashing around trying to come up with the right keywords, then reading a bunch of links myself to find the answer. It's good for "I don't even know the name of the thing I'm looking for" type stuff. Disclaimer: I haven't used Google Search much in a long while so my googlefu is weak. I can usually find what I'm looking for much quicker in DDG which I believe is mostly based on Bing web search results (as opposed to the chatbot) so I might just currently be better trained in Bing keywords?

theptip 3y ago

What's in it for Google is not getting disrupted by OpenAI and losing their entire business, if it turns out that Chat is the new Search. While we seem to be cresting the peak of exuberance and coasting towards the trough of disillusionment, recall how freaked out everybody got a few months ago when everybody started using ChatGPT; Google's stock price tanked and they were getting slaughtered by analysts, so they needed to show a return to dominance on AI. I think if you had ChatGPT but with up-to-date information, you'd see a pretty big substitution effect from Google's search product, so it's better for them to "disrupt themselves" than have another company steal their golden goose. OpenAI competition aside, it's just clearly (to me) going to be a massive product area in the future, and it's going to be lucrative for AdTech companies like Google if they can build the right product (chat sessions are going to be even more valuable for ad placement than search queries).

Someone 3y ago
But to avoid being disrupted, I don’t think they have to have a product out today. Also, as is always the case in these “established giant vs nimble newcomer” cases, they have more to lose than OpenAI, and thus have to be more careful than them in what they release. For Google, that’s doubly so, given that they’re the portal to product search for half the world. Let’s say they release a product that (rightfully or not) starts claiming a product of one of their large advertisers is expensive and doesn’t work? What if it stops mentioning some products because it ‘thinks’ nobody should buy them? How be confident their offering isn’t biased, racist or sexist? > and it's going to be lucrative for AdTech companies like Google Would it? The true disruptor would direct you to the product that’s best for you, irrespective or how much its seller is wanting to bribe it to make that suggestion.