Google got scared that it wouldn’t stand the competition with chat bots

In response to the AI bot ChatGPT, Google has issued a ‘code red’ and is redirecting teams to focus on building AI products. The AI bot poses a threat to Google’s search engine.

CEO Sundar Pichai is discussing Google’s AI strategy and has directed multiple groups within the company to refocus on their efforts on addressing the potential threat that ChatGPT poses to the search engine business.

Teams within Google, such as those in the research and Trust and Safety divisions, have been directed to shift their focus towards the development and launch of new AI prototypes and products. 

This includes taking some employees with creating AI products that can generate art and graphics similar to OpenAI’s DALL-E. The move is aimed at addressing the potential threat that ChatGPT poses to Google’s search engine business and ad-revenue mode.

Sridhar Ramaswamy, former head of Google’s ad team, has expressed concern that the popularity of ChatGPT could negatively impact Google’s revenue from ads. 

ChatGPT has already gained over 1 million users just days after its public launch. It has the ability to generate singular answers to questions in a conversational, human-like way. This could lead to users not clicking on Google links with ads, which generated $208 billion, 81% of Alphabet’s overall revenue. 

GhatGPT has also been criticised for its high margin of error and tendency to generate offensive responses. This vulnerability is one of the reasons why Google is hesitant to release its own AI chatbot. Zoubin Ghahramani, who leads Google’s AI lab Google Brain, has stated that chatbots like ChatGPT are not something people can use reliably on a daily basis.