The way people search for information online could soon be changing as artificial intelligence continues to advance, and with it a new company could dethrone what has long been the king of online search.
“It's certainly conceivable that AI could ultimately replace search, especially if AI can learn what its user wants and offer more relevant answers,” Jon Schweppe, policy director at the American Principles Project, told Fox News Digital. , while warning that there are still many unknowns with the technology. “We're in the nascent stages of the AI revolution and it's not yet clear that these companies know how to monetize it.”
The comments come as a new search product called Perplexity has quickly become one of the most talked about tech platforms, with an AI-powered search feature that rivals or even surpasses traditional search platforms like Google. and Bing, according to a report by New Times of York.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
Google headquarters is seen in Mountain View, California, United States. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The company, which is now one year old and was founded by people who previously worked in AI research at OpenAI and Meta, Facebook's parent company, has benefited from an investment boom in recent months. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was also an early investor in Google, is one of those investors in a round in which the company raised $74 million and raised its total value to $520 million, according to the report.
The report notes that although the landing page interface has many similarities to Google's, the user experience is very different and in some cases better than traditional search. A standout feature was Perplexity's “Copilot,” which asks the user clarifying questions that help narrow the search rather than presenting pages of possible results.
Jake Denton, a research associate at the Heritage Foundation's Tech Policy Center, told Fox News Digital that problems with current search engines could open the door for companies like Perplexity to take the top spot in the industry. Among those problems is the desire to filter or censor results, Denton argued, denying users the information they were really looking for.
“That's why startups like Perplexity are taking a totally different approach: giving people unfiltered results, without the usual big tech manipulation,” Denton said. “Perplexity already outperforms browsers like Google in many areas because they focus on quality and accuracy, not this top-down censorship and control of information.”
But not everyone is convinced that technology will really be able to take over the search.
CANDACE CAMERON BURE SAYS AI SCARES HER, WON'T BE USED IN FAMILY FILMS
“AI probably won't replace search engines, but it will probably become the way to interact with them,” Christopher Alexander, director of analytics at Pioneer Development Group, told Fox News Digital. “What AI agents can effectively do is make the unnatural way we search for information by entering key terms and make the process of searching for information more human. This is achieved through natural language processing, that allows a human conversation about what a user wants to understand.”
The Perplexity AI logo is seen on the screen of a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Phil Siegel, founder of the Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation (CAPTRS), told Fox News Digital that AI is capable of replacing some of the current search functions, especially in cases where the user is not sure what you are looking for. However, Siegel questioned the business model for AI-powered search and whether it can be profitable.
“The issue is the business model for open search. When you search for a movie quote, the engine knows it will offer you movies or theaters, maybe even like the one you're looking for. And it can charge for that,” Siegel said. .
Siegel argued that AI-powered search platforms may become more of a “niche” product, making money by charging people to use the service.
Perplexity may be ahead when it comes to monetizing the platform, the New York Times report notes, launching a Perplexity Pro product that charges users $20 a month and includes features like a more powerful AI model and the ability to upload your own data. files.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND US NUCLEAR WEAPONS DECISIONS: WHAT ROLE IS IMPORTANT?
Another obstacle for Perplexity is that the company will also have to compete with companies like Google and Microsoft in developing artificial intelligence, Bull Moose project president Aiden Buzzetti argued, noting that both Google and Bing have started reimbursing their own tools. of artificial intelligence along with your browsers. .
“Its current form helps add information quickly and easily, similar to the toolboxes you would put in browsers, only in a more responsive form,” Buzzetti told Fox News Digital. “I think it's very likely that AI tools will become even more prevalent in sifting through information.”
Microsoft Bing Chat and ChatGPT AI chat apps are seen on a mobile device in this photo illustration in Warsaw, Poland, on July 21, 2023. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But Buzzetti also noted some concerns for users of the technology, including censorship and hallucinations caused by AI.
“Information literacy will be more important than ever, but how will we know when AI is giving us correct information or how will we determine which source is correct? What data points are included or excluded? This debate exists within the current concept. search engines. It will probably accelerate,” Buzzetti said.
Chase Reid, CEO of Mutable, expressed similar concerns, telling Fox News Digital that questions remain about whether AI should be trusted for searches.
“Should we delegate such a critical function to AI?” -Reid asked. “If the potential for subpar performance persists and exceeds the rudimentary hallucinations that lend themselves to a technical solution, what implications will this have for broad adoption? And, more importantly, what implications will it have for commercial or enterprise use?”
Meanwhile, Federalist editor Samuel Mangold-Lenett argued that it's just as likely that Google or another big tech company will eventually buy out an upstart competitor like Perplexity.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Realistically, what will happen is that Google's parent company or another tech giant will buy these companies and fold them into their flagship programs,” Mangold-Lettt said. “That has been their strategy with startups that could become competitors in the future for years.
For its part, a Google spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the company has been using AI, such as large language models, “for years” to “vastly improve the quality of search results and provide quick answers.”
“Now, we're seeing strong user satisfaction with our next-gen AI experiments in Search, and we're already rolling out these capabilities more broadly in features like Lens,” the spokesperson said. “With this technology, we are seizing the opportunity to answer new types of questions and make Google radically more useful to people.”
