Google, the company behind cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning projects like Tensor Flow, Magenta, and Imagen, is reportedly getting desperate to showcase its AI chops. After OpenAI wowed the collective world’s imagination with generative AI tools like Dall-E and ChatGPT while archrival Microsoft kept pouring billions and getting strategic control over OpenAI’s toys, Google was feeling unprecedented competitive heat. Now, the company has sprung into action, and that means stuffing AI features into its most popular products.
In this article, we will delve deeper into Google’s strategy to incorporate AI into its most important products and the reasons behind its desperation. We will also explore how Google plans to compete with its rivals in the AI race.
Google’s Push for AI Integration
According to a report from Bloomberg, an internal code red message has told employees that “all of its most important products — those with more than a billion users — must incorporate generative AI within months.” This means that Google is planning to integrate AI into its mainstream products like Gmail, Search, and Maps.
Google’s desperation to showcase its AI capabilities is understandable, given the intense competition it is facing from rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI. While Google’s AI research team is one of the largest in the field, the company is lagging behind its rivals for integrating AI into mainstream products.
To combat the rising threat of a ChatGPT-powered Bing search browser, Google recently detailed its own version called Bard. The company has also promised such tools for creators on the cash cow platform that is YouTube, allowing them to virtually change outfits in videos. Google’s push for AI integration into its products is clearly clear in these recent developments.
The Importance of AI Integration in Mainstream Products
Microsoft already has a lead with tools like GitHub Copilot that uses OpenAI’s Codex engine, Bing has been injected with ChatGPT fuel, and more AI magic is in the pipeline for tools like Team and the bread-and-butter Office tools like Outlook and Excel, among others. In such a scenario, Google needs to focus on integrating AI into mainstream products to stay competitive.
It’s not just innovative AI tools like LaMDA that Google needs to compete with the likes of Microsoft, but how well the underlying tech is integrated into mainstream products. With billions of users, products like Gmail, Search, and Maps are crucial to Google’s success, and integrating AI into them could give the company an edge over its rivals.
Google’s AI Research Team
Google’s AI research team is a behemoth in the field, churning out some of the most-cited groundbreaking papers in the past decade. However, even stunningly advanced models like ChatGPT have a bias and factual accuracy problem. According to The Wall Street Journal, a pair of Google employees actually pushed for releasing a ChatGPT-like chatbot and even integrating it with Google Assistant over two years, but they denied their requests considering AI safety and ethics standards.
Read more; GOOGLE STRUGGLES TO MAINTAIN ITS GRIP IN THE AI LANDSCAPE
The concerns over AI safety and ethics are not unfounded, and Google needs to ensure that its AI integration into mainstream products does not compromise safety and ethics. In fact, Google has already faced criticism over its AI tools like Google Photos that incorrectly labeled black people as gorillas. Hence, it’s important for Google to maintain a balance between AI integration and safety and ethics.
The Way Forward for Google
Google’s push for AI integration into mainstream products is a step in the right direction. With billions of users, products like Gmail, Search, and Maps are crucial to Google’s success, and integrating AI into them could give the company an edge over its rivals.
However, Google needs to ensure that its AI integration does not compromise on safety and ethics. The company needs to focus on developing AI tools
