Google has turned to its founders to help it devise an AI strategy as the company faces its biggest challenge yet to its search dominance.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the AI world by storm, with Microsoft working to integrate it with a version of Bing. Google has had to answer some uncomfortable questions about why a startup beat it to market with one of the best conversational AIs to date.
Evidently, the concerns go more than skin deep, with the company calling in Larry Page and Sergey Brin to help it plot its course forward and come up with a response, according to The New York Times.
The Times sources say the two founders reviewed the company’s AI strategy, approved ideas for how to integrate AI chat into Google’s search engine, and provided ideas to company leaders on the best way to proceed with AI implementation.
The fact that Google turned to its founders for help with AI underscores how seriously company execs are viewing the technology in terms of the threat it poses to Google’s core search business.
“This is a moment of significant vulnerability for Google,” D. Sivakumar, a former Google research director, told the Times. “ChatGPT has put a stake in the ground, saying, ‘Here’s what a compelling new search experience could look like.’”
Despite the threat, Mr. Sivakumar believes Google could deploy its significant AI tools to counter the threat.
In the meantime, Microsoft and other rivals have a rare opportunity to use ChatGPT, and similar AI tech, to make headway against Google’s dominance.
