ChatGPT has created a frenzy. Since the release of OpenAI’s large language model (LLM) in late November, there has been rampant speculation about how generative AIs — of which ChatGPT is just one — might change everything we know about knowledge, research, and content creation. Or reshape the workforce and the skills employees need to thrive. Or even upend entire industries!
Generative AI Won’t Revolutionize Search — Yet
There are major practical, technical, and legal challenges to overcome before tools like ChatGPT reach the scale, robustness, and reliability of Google.
February 23, 2023
Summary.
Generative AI has the potential to drastically change what users expect from search, and companies such as Microsoft and Google are placing big bets on what it might yield. But despite the hype around ChatGPT — and generative AI overall — there are major practical, technical, and legal challenges to overcome before these tools can reach the scale, robustness, and reliability of an established search engine such as Google. These include problems of keeping large language models up to date, issues around sourcing, and convincing fabrications by the AIs. That said, these tools might be strong fits for narrower, more specialized forms of search.