Google will soon bring AI chat to search, says Sundar Pichai, dismissing threat from chatbots

His comments are significant as they come at a time when Meta, Microsoft, and numerous other tech companies are scrambling to integrate AI technologies into their products and services.

“Will people be able to ask questions to Google and engage with LLMs in the context of search? Absolutely,” Pichai was quoted as saying by the news outlet. In the same interview, Pichai also dismissed the reports that suggested that chatbots posed a threat to the search giant.

The Alphabet Inc company has been known for developing large language models (LLMs) that are capable of processing and responding to prompts in natural language with human-like answers. However, the company has not integrated the technology into its search which accounts for more than half of the company’s revenue.

In March, Google had dropped vague hints about its plans to integrate AI into its search engines, however, there was no information on the timeline. The announcement came with the launch of Bard, Google’s rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft, which has pumped millions of dollars into AI powerhouse OpenAI, integrated ChatGPT into its Bing search engine. Now, this gives Microsoft an edge over Google search which continues to follow the conventional search approach.

As if Microsoft deploying ChatGPT in Bing wasn’t enough, trouble seems to be mounting for Google which is currently facing severe pressure from investors to cut costs. The company had announced that it would sack nearly 12,000 employees which form about 6 per cent of its workforce.

Google is not only battling competition but is also grappling with concerts of inflation and recession. However, Pichai’s comments may soon come as a breather for the search giant. But, it remains to be seen how Google will be integrating LLMs into search to distinguish itself from its contemporaries.