The new search bot highlights a common problem with the technology.
Illustration: The Atlantic. Source: Getty.
August 9, 2024 6:26 PM
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Tech companies believe that generative AI can change how we find information online, replacing traditional search engines with bots that synthesize knowledge into a more interactive format. Instead of clicking through a series of links, reading different sources, and deciding on the answer yourself, you might instead converse with a search bot that, in effect, reads it for you. Companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Google are bringing such tools to market. As my colleague Matteo Wong recently wrote in The Atlantic, “The generative AI search wars are in full swing.”
As part of his coverage, Matteo spoke with Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Business Officer at Perplexity. In particular, the two discussed the media partnerships that Perplexity and other AI companies have signed to support the search project. These agreements compensate media companies in return for making their material available to generative AI tools. For example, The Atlantic has a deal with OpenAI to show its articles to users of its new SearchGPT tool, among other things. (The Atlantic's editorial division operates independently from its business division, which announced a corporate partnership with OpenAI in May.)
Two of Shevelenko’s comments particularly struck me. First, “One of the key factors for long-term success is for web publishers to continue to produce good, fact-filled journalism, because without accurate source material, questions can’t be answered well.” Second, “Journalists’ content is rich in facts and verified knowledge, which is the utility function for AI answer engines.” Each statement seems to expose an attitude that the creative output of humanity is merely fodder. This seems especially dire given that AIs are trained on vast amounts of copyrighted material without consent, and the tendency of these tools to present users with misinformation. Or, as I put it last year, “Essentially, generative AI can’t distinguish original journalism from other writings. To the machine, it’s all filth shoved down a pipe and spurted out the other end.”
Illustration: The Atlantic. Source: Getty.
The AI search wars have begun
Mateo Wong
Every second of every day, people around the world type tens of thousands of queries into Google, resulting in trillions of searches per year. Google and several other search engines are the portals through which billions of people navigate the Internet. Many of the world's most powerful technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, recently saw an opportunity to remake that gateway with generative AI and are racing to seize it. And as of this week, the generative AI search wars are in full swing.
Read the full article.
What to read next
Bing is a trap. “Tech companies claim that AI will expand the possibilities of internet search. So far, the opposite seems to be true,” I wrote last year.
P.S.
The future of search bots may hinge on recent copyright lawsuits against generative AI companies. Earlier this year, Alex Reisner wrote an excellent piece for The Atlantic exploring what's at stake.
Damon
