Search Is History ...

I have seen that future for web search and its not Google.

If I was working in Google now I would be more than a little uncomfortable at the pace at which AI chat has exploded with the arrival of ChatGPT. If you haven't heard of it or were are living under a rock - it's a very clever AI enabled chatbot. In simple terms - you ask it something via a website chat box and it gives you the answer but with amazing accuracy instantly. Its not just the speed its the fact that the answer is in a "human-like" reply that is totally different from the search results pages you get with Google.

I have been on the web since the start. I remember a time before AI, before Social Networks back to the start when search engines (directories actually) like Altavista we just that - directories where you search for results but there was little or no intelligence to the results returned. Google emerged as the leader when it figured out that relevancy was the key when searching so worked on its algorithm which is still secret to perfect this. Web designers, content writers and SEO experts have been battling ever since to try to beat each other to the top of SERP (listings) in a battle that has only ever really suited Google to exploit its dominant position.

Then along comes CHATGPT - an absolute game changer in terms of search on the web. I think we will look back years from now and laugh at how we used to search pages and then have to trawl through the results (hit or miss) to find information we were looking for. Here come the new generation of AI Chatbots who will now do that for us. They will do the search, they will assess the results and they will present an answer based on relevancy, accuracy and unbiased. That's quite a change from where we are now with paid listings, fake news, et al all in the mix of search results.

Below is an example from The New Bing - Chatbot where I asked "Who is playing at Glastonbury 2023 ?"

As you can see the answer is short, concise, correct and also has links to other online reference source for me to explore - if I want to. It also suggested to me that I check "schedule and budget" so the second reply is even more useful. The game changer here is TIME. I didnt have to spend the time looking for and through those other websites to find this information. The process of finding as we know it has been completely reversed. Plus if connected via my Microsoft Account - Bing would possibly have access to my Calendar so the chat may become even more relevant based on my availability. From that point of view our concept of online search is history. Searched has evolved into Chat - instantly.

Bing's next step is to roll out a chat box into the next release of Windows 11 directly onto the task bar. Think about the impact that will make for tens of millions of Microsoft devices users overnight. Its a massive change and as soon as that happens - why would I want to use a Google search ever again?

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