A New Chat Bot Is a ‘Code Red’ for Google’s Search Business

A new wave of chat bots, such as ChatGPT, uses artificial intelligence, which could reinvent or even replace the traditional Internet search engine, writes The New York Times.

Over the past three decades, a handful of products like Netscape's web browser, #Google 's search engine, and Apple's iPhone have truly changed the tech industry and made what came before them look like lumbering dinosaurs.

Although #ChatGPT still has a lot of room for improvement, its release prompted Google management to declare it "code red". For Google, this was like pulling the fire alarm. Some fear that the firm is approaching a difficult moment that is giving Silicon Valley's biggest units migraines - the arrival of a huge technological change that could turn the business upside down.

For over 20 years, the Google search engine has served as the world's main gateway to the Internet. But with a new breed of chatbot technology poised to reinvent or even replace traditional search engines, Google may be facing its first serious threat to its core search business. A Google executive described these efforts as decisive for Google's future.

ChatGPT was launched by an aggressive research lab called #OpenAI , and Google is among many other companies, labs and researchers who have contributed to the technology. But experts believe that the tech giant could have a hard time competing with smaller new companies developing these chatbots because of the many ways the technology could affect its business.

Google has spent years working on chatbots and, like other big tech companies, has aggressively pursued AI technology. Google has already built a chatbot that could rival ChatGPT. In fact, the technology behind OpenAI's chatbot was developed by researchers at Google.

Called #LaMDA , or the Language Model for Dialog Applications, Google's chatbot got a lot of attention over the summer. However, Google may be reluctant to deploy this new technology as a replacement for online search because it is not well-suited to serving digital ads, which accounted for more than 80% of the company's revenue last year.

"No company is invincible, all are vulnerable," said Margaret O Mara, a University of Washington professor specializing in the history of Silicon Valley. "It's hard for companies that have been wildly successful doing one thing that defines the market to have a second act with something completely different."

Because these new chatbots acquire their skills by analyzing vast amounts of data posted on the Internet, they have a way of mixing fiction with reality. They provide information that may be biased against women and people of color. They can generate toxic language, including hate speech.

All of this could turn people against Google and damage the corporate brand it has spent decades building. As OpenAI demonstrated, newer companies may be more willing to take the risk of receiving complaints in exchange for growth.

"Google has a business model problem," said Amr Awadallah, who worked for Yahoo and Google and now runs Vectara, a start-up building similar technology. "If Google gives you the perfect answer to every query, you won't click on any ads."

Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive, held a series of meetings to define Google's AI strategy and disrupted the work of numerous groups within the company to respond to the threat posed by ChatGPT, according to a memorandum and filing audio obtained by The New York Times. Employees have also been tasked with building artificial intelligence products that can create artwork and other images, such as OpenAI's DALL-E technology, which has been used by more than three million people.

Between now and a major conference expected to be hosted by Google in May, teams from Google's research, trust and safety and other departments have been relocated to help develop and launch new prototypes and artificial intelligence products.

As technology advances, industry experts believe, Google must decide whether to overhaul its search engine and make a full-fledged chatbot the image of its core service.

Google has been reluctant to share the technology