Your online searches might be about to get a little bit smarter, thanks to help from ChatGPT.
Microsoft announced on Tuesday that ChatGPT would be integrated into its search engine Bing and its web browser Edge as a way to evolve how information is delivered. The company said it estimates that half of the daily 10 billion searches don't provide the information the person was looking for, and artificial intelligence could improve the experience. It previously announced a multibillion dollar investment into Open A.I., the creator of ChatGPT, in January.
"AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all — search," Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said in a release.
Bing users should expect to see more details in their searches, including up-to-date stock prices and sports scores as well as a sidebar with more information. People will get full answers to prompts, like if you search for egg substitutions it will give you a couple sentences instead of direct you to several websites that have the answer.
Perhaps one of the most interesting integrations could be around travel search. A person searching for a vacation for an anniversary would be given a text list of destinations complete with climate and activities around the dates they are searching for instead of being recommended several travel sites where you have to parse through the information.
For Microsoft Edge users, they can use Edge Sidebar to put in complicated financial information and key takeaways will be pulled out for them. They can also use the chat function to compare results with other companies.
"It makes it easy," said Muddu Sudhakar, CEO and co-founder of Aisera. "I no longer have to look for the content through search and go through hundreds of links. It gives me the right answer. It simplifies the whole process."
It's not just Microsoft. Yesterday, Google announced it would be integrating its A.I. chatbot Bard into its search in the upcoming weeks.
"One of the most exciting opportunities is how AI can deepen our understanding of information and turn it into useful knowledge more efficiently — making it easier for people to get to the heart of what they're looking for and get things done," wrote Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a blog post. "When people think of Google, they often think of turning to us for quick factual answers, like "how many keys does a piano have?" But increasingly, people are turning to Google for deeper insights and understanding — like, "is the piano or guitar easier to learn, and how much practice does each need?"'
Aisera, an information technology company that works on integrating OpenAI and ChatGPT capabilities into Microsoft Azure apps for enterprise users, believes there are more capabilities for ChatGPT and its competitors just waiting to be unlocked. For example, it could help automate customer service or even interact with salespeople to help complete transactions.
"I think the application will be enormous," Sudhakar said. "This will be the next decade of new applications, new companies will be built in 2023 ... I call it the A.I. moment, like the cloud moment of 2008."
