Microsoft, thanks to its commitment to OpenAI, has become a very powerful competitor for Google. Especially when it comes to searches, thanks to the new functions that it has integrated into Bing. That’s why, Google has stepped on the accelerator and is immersed in the development of a new search engine, powered by Artificial Intelligence. According to the New York Times, it is still in the early stages of development, and its goal is to create a search service that is able to anticipate what the user wants, to offer a more personalized search experience.
The project, yes, still does not have specific deadlines or a roadmap, although it has emerged that the company is developing a suite of Artificial Intelligence functions for its existing search engine with the code name of “Magi”.
Among the functions that Google is developing for the engine is a chatbot capable of answering software engineering questions, as well as generating code snippets. The company has also experimented with a feature that would allow people to search for music through a conversation with the chatbot. Apparently, there are more than 160 company employees, from developers to managers to designers, working on the redesign of the search engine.
Other additions to the engine, which are currently in various stages of development, include a Chrome feature called Searchalong. With it, a chatbot could scan the web page that a user has open at that moment to offer contextual information. For example, it could be used to ask the chatbot for attractions to see around a hotel where the user is currently making an online reservation.
Two other experimental features of the future browser are for now called GIFI and Tivoli Tutor. With them, users could use Google’s image search engine to generate images from text messages, as well as converse with a chatbot to learn a new language. Many of the features that Google is considering integrating into the engine already exist on some platforms, such as Duolingo, or have been used in demos in the past. For example, image generation is already available in Google Slides.
Google plans to announce Magi next month, before rolling out the new AI-powered features it’s developing. This will happen, foreseeably, throughout the next autumn. In any case, the company plans to offer Magi functions to approximately one million people, before expanding its availability to 30 million users before the end of this year. Of course, for now they will only be available in the United States.
With this step, Google wants to get out of rumors that Samsung would be considering replacing the default search engine on their devices, which is currently Google’s, by Bing by Microsoft. The search deal with Samsung brings Google about $3 billion each year, a pretty hefty amount whose loss would hurt Google a lot.
Also, those in Mountain View they also have to review their search agreement with Apple, a contract that brings them much more money annually: no less than 20,000 million dollars. Therefore, its commitment to provide its search engine with AI goes far beyond the mere competition with Microsoft.
