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AI becomes central focus in Google in 2023

AI Recently, AI has been heavily discussed online, especially when it comes to ChatGPT.

Due to its high degree of innovation since its debut in 2022, the popular chatbot OpenAI has garnered a lot of attention.

In order to compete with ChatGPT, Google pledges to provide something special.

Google is also aware of the rise in demand for AI features since its introduction.

The news

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, announced last week that the company will soon integrate cutting-edge AI technology into the Google search engine.

Google reportedly tested a few of the features last week on employees.

The tests are a “code red” strategy to be applied to ChatGPT.

One of Google’s latest search desktop interfaces, the “Apprentice Bard” chatbot, has a question-and-answer format.

“Very soon, people will be able to interact directly with our newest, most powerful language model as a companion to Search, in experimental and innovative ways,” said Pichai.

He was referring to a conversation that was conducted utilizing the LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) tool from Google.

Pichai claims that the company will make the entire language model accessible in the upcoming weeks and months to get more feedback.

The ChatGPT threat

In December, Google staff members expressed concern about ChatGPT’s rise.

A discussion about Google’s participation in the race to create chatbots for consumer inquiries came up during an all-hands meeting in December.

Sundar Pichai and Jeff Dean reassured them that the company had equal talent, but they were also forewarned that because so many people relied on Google for information, the cost may be prohibitive if something went wrong.

“This really strikes a need that people seem to have but it’s also important to realize these models have certain types of issues,” said Dean.

During Google’s fourth-quarter earnings call, artificial intelligence talks apparently took up a lot of time.

“AI is the most profound technology we are working on today,” said Pichai.

The corporation is dealing with pressure on its primary advertising income as well as a new threat from its longtime competitor, Microsoft, at the same time that AI is garnering attention.

Fourth quarter earnings

Alphabet’s fourth-quarter earnings report, which was made public on Thursday, was disappointing on both the top and bottom lines.

Some of the 7.28% profits achieved during regular trading hours were lost as the price dropped by nearly 4% after hours.

Alphabet stated that it will record a loss of between $1.9 billion and $2.3 billion (primarily in the first quarter of 2023) on its books as a result of the 12,000 staff layoffs that were announced in January.

The company expects to spend more than $500 million in the first quarter as a result of the smaller office space.

Read also: United Airlines to endure a positive 2023

They also cautioned that other fees (related to real estate) could be added later.

In its results presentation on Thursday, Alphabet said that it had failed Wall Street revenue and profit projections for the fourth straight quarter.

More signs of the advertising sector’s fragility include an 8% reduction in YouTube’s ad revenue and a following 2% decline in Google’s Search and Other revenue.

Pressure

Along with the budget problem, Microsoft-backed ChatGPT has been exerting pressure on Google.

The company’s primary line of business is web search, and it has long positioned itself as an AI pioneer.

However, generative AI tools like ChatGPT may put Google’s method of doing internet searches in jeopardy.

The chatbot provides unique answers to challenging searches.

Microsoft is also considering adding ChatGPT’s services to Bing, its search engine.

More focus on AI

After stepping away from day-to-day operations in 2019, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin actively participated in the initiatives due to the threat of falling behind in AI research.

Google also disclosed modifications to the DeepMind financial reporting structure in addition to the previously mentioned improvements to search.

Google will be affected by the restructuring more than the Other Bets sectors, which include long-term investments in venture capital and self-driving technologies, because DeepMind is the artificial intelligence used.

In 2014, Google acquired the London-based company for more than $500 million.

The company was later integrated into the Other Bets division in 2015 when it was reorganized as Alphabet.

DeepMind made its first profit two years ago.

The difference in reporting on the Thursday results call underscored DeepMind’s goal to service both ends of its sectors.

“To be very clear, we consolidate Other Bets into Google only when that bet supports products and services within Google or Alphabet broadly,” said Porat.

“That was very effective,” she added, referring to Chronicle, a cybersecurity company that rolled into Google’s cloud unit in 2019.

According to Sundar Pichai, the company will provide tools and APIs that would enable developers, creators, and collaborators to experiment with cutting-edge AI capabilities.

“These models are particularly amazing for composing, constructing, and summarizing,” said Pichai.

He made it very clear that he thought language use was still developing and suggested that it would need to improve gradually.

Image source: The Keyword

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