February 28, 2023
MIT Sloan recently published an article featuring Timothy Simcoe, Associate Professor, discussing a new era of competition the search market might be facing.
Google’s dominance in the search market has seemed unshakable, making the idea of competition between search engines very unlikely. But the entrance of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has kindled the potential for a competitor to knock Google’s capabilities off the top of the search pyramid. Microsoft’s new Bing Chat, which integrates the same AI technology that powers ChatGPT bot, is generating curiosity and a long waitlist of users. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has also developed Bard, their own AI chatbot. The future successes and impact of these new technologies are very much open questions. Panelists were asked to respond to the statement: Generative AI will restore competition in search, and nearly two-thirds agreed, while only 10% neither agreed nor disagreed, and only a third disagreed.