What is ChatGPT threatening?

Will Chatgpt or openAI replace Google search? Yes and No

During the WAICF '23 conference, Yann LeCun, Vice President and Chief AI Scientist at Meta, made a bold statement about ChatGPT that it is just a writing aid.

"Let me repeat:?current LLMs are useful as writing aids, but they make stuff up and are superficially impressive but very stupid. They are not the AGI panacea that some have claimed, and they will not destroy society either, as others have claimed." he reposted on LinkedIn

Contrasts with those attempting to maintain a neutral professional tone with the "we will wait and see" or "It’s exciting to see what the future is holding", I strongly appreciate a clear and somewhat polarized opinion of LeCun. At the end of the day, we want to be extremely right or extremely wrong.

And i don't agree with him. ChatGPT is not solely a tool for paraphrasing or summarizing information. ChatGPT has begun to transform the way people search for information, an substitute for Google Search.

People have been talking about Google Search and ChatGPT, lots of them seeing this competition as a direct competition, which lead to comparation in server, who has strongger computers, who has more data... which lead to a conclusion that ChatGPT cannot match Google in terms of data accuracy at the moment. ChatGPT data is 2 years late and it is limited in text response. Hence, when ChatGPT updates their data, they will be Google with human-like response, "The future is interesting".

However, I see ChatGPT more powerful than that. It is changing our entire search behavior, let us be lazy. When you ask a question, ChatGPT work out an anwser "IT" deems as the best response. Google, when you ask a question, would provides a list of search results and YOU evaluate the information and workout the best anwser by yourself, for yourself. ChatGPT is your assistant: you ask her to research and report on a certain topic, stupid or not, it saves your time and energy. Google, on average, a search yields four clicks on search result page, with two searches per topic, requiring users to read eight articles of 1000 words each to gain a certain knowledge that make you satisfied. Google gives you choices, sometime, it just feels insecured not to read more to validate information of the first source even though it might be enough with just Google Snippet or People Also Ask. In contrast, ChatGPT provides concise and tailored answers to specific questions, enabling further clarification through Q&A with the assistant. What you don't ask, you don't see.

As an example, I am currently learning about 5G technologies, which is an entirely new topic for me. Comprehensive knowledge from SEO-optimized articles on Google's top search results can be intimidating. Instead, a 400-word answer from ChatGPT is more approachable and encourages active learning through continuous questioning. Additionally, the prompt "explain like I am 5" simplifies complex technical information, making it easier to digest. For more advanced information, such as updated reports or charts, I would turn to Google. So I am using both, ChatGPT and Google.

While Google has not yet replaced books, even with advanced OCR technology, ChatGPT does not need to compete in the data race with Google to prove its value. With models of 175b variants continuously trained, and a smarter althgorism would outplay this indirect competitor.

However, ChatGPT's integration with Bing, Microsoft's search engine, is yet to become a game-changing factor because ChatGPT for Google extension is still on, there is no advantage of moving to Edge or using Bing.

If I was the Microsoft's product manager, i would integrate it into Skype and Microsoft Office. Or I would remove all News on Bing's homepage and transform it into a chatbox, with citations to outer links for deeper readings and information validation.

I hope and I believe that ChatGPT will outplay Google which then will be considered as the "tradition search". Google would not die, as how books still survive. They just could not monopolize the search industry anymore. The way human search and learn will change for more convenience, users are all lazy.

ChatGPT will take away your jobs? No . But if you are a JUNIOR DEV, you might not be desired as much as before.

(to be continue)