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By Will Ellis

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Last Updated on January 1, 2024

Experts speculate that Microsoft’s plans to compete with Google’s Chrome browser might herald the start of a new “browser race”. Exactly what does ChatGPT mean for businesses, and what does it symbolise?

• Experts believe that Microsoft has a genuine chance to threaten Google’s search engine monopoly by incorporating ChatGPT’s intelligence into native browser-based search engine combination.
• Gartner analyst and VP Jason Wong told IT Pro that combining ChatGPT with Bing and Edge might be “a formidable mix”.
• Microsoft hopes that integrating ChatGPT into Bing would make it a better search engine. That said, it is still uncertain how much time Microsoft has to overtake Chrome and Google Search as the market leader.

Wond further mentioned how difficult it is to change these numbers overnight. Since “Google it” is a widespread term used by customers, there are a lot of habits to break in this sector.

StatCounter reports that Google currently has 65.4% of the market share, while Microsoft’s Edge has just 4.56 %. Statistics show that whereas Google commands 92.9% of the search market, Bing only controls 3.03%.

Microsoft has a formidable challenge in winning over mobile users to its new Edge browser. Wong predicts that by 2023, a large proportion of all searches will come from mobile devices, and that Chrome will dominate this sector.

ChatGPT’s Inevitable Threat to Privacy 🇦🇺

Large penalties are being assessed against several IT companies because of their repeated violations of data protection regulations. The Irish Data Protection Commission recently slapped Meta with a hefty fine of over £350 million for violating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

ChatGPT exacerbates existing privacy concerns:

• having quickly been used to write dangerous SQL injections for hacking websites, before developers turned off that capability;
• while other cybercriminals used it to write phishing emails.

Although OpenAI’s popular conversational chatbot has been featured in several media outlets due to its widespread use, the question of whether or not it protects user privacy has received comparatively little attention. 

Not only is this crucial for the success of any product aimed at the general public, but it’s especially crucial for ChatGPT, which relies on ongoing user feedback to improve its model. It’s a never-ending cycle: as the model learns from fresh data, it produces more accurate AI, which in turn generates more data. The techniques used by ChatGPT to gather information have obviously alarmed several businesses.

Fights over browsers and search engines are more likely than a “total AI war”.

The ChatGPT app is designed to compete head-on with Google Search. Wong suggests that the generative AI technologies of the two companies, ChatGPT and Bard, may instead engage in a “browser war” rather than an all-out “AI arms race”.

According to Wong, this indicates that a new browser war may soon break out.

However, from a business perspective, companies are adapting to the web. When deciding whether to optimise for Internet Explorer or Chrome, people used to wonder which browser was best. Nowadays, it’s unusual for them to do so.

Satya Nadella CEO of Microsoft on Tuesday announced the addition of ChatGPT to Edge and Bing. He was enthusiastic regarding Microsoft’s chances of replacing Google as the most popular search engine.

Several people have expressed doubt that Microsoft can catch up to Google and pass them in these two sectors, despite the company’s optimistic leadership. Google has a far larger user base.

Alec Boere, of AI at InfoSys Consulting, believes Bard will have a definite advantage in terms of access to data, reach, and the kind it delivers (recommended: tips for protecting yourself online). 

Bing Search Engine Leaping Forward in Intelligence

Privacy aside, incorporating new features from Bard should improve Bing’s functionality.

As far as Nadella is concerned, Chrome is the best web browser available. Nadella claims that the amount of money Google makes on Windows exceeds the whole amount of money Microsoft makes on all of its products put together, so we can disregard the rest and focus on that.

Nadella thinks Bing can become very successful if it can get a larger portion of the search engine and browser markets.

When discussing the idea of competing with Google, Nadella emphasised the need of keeping realistic and reasonable expectations.

According to Microsoft’s announcement statement on Tuesday, the firm plans to integrate chatbot technology into its Bing search engine to improve search, deliver more comprehensive replies, provide a new conversational experience, and even content creation. This has repercussions for every sector, whether you’re in the market for a new web server or an auto repair shop.

This follows the recent release of Google’s AI-powered engine tool.

On Monday, Google announced that their next AI assistant, Bard, will operate similarly to ChatGPT but with more nuanced, conversational replies to user inquiries. As a language model, LaMDA is Google’s foundation for Bard.

OpenAI Privacy Risk vs. Reward

The value that ChatGPT brings to Bing and Edge is to be seen. The primary advantage appears to be speed and efficiency.

Microsoft claims that by adding ChatGPT to the Edge browser, users would have access to an “AI copilot”.

Users can expect an “enhanced version” of their regular Bing search experience, with improved relevance for frequently-searched topics like weather, popular stocks, and sports scores thanks to Bing’s recent upgrades.

Also, we’re adding a brand new sidebar that provides comprehensive solutions to common search terms. In order to find and summarise the answer you need, Bing analyses search engine results. For instance, you could get in-depth instructions on substituting another ingredient for eggs in the cake you’re now baking without having to click through numerous results.

More emphasis is being placed on edge computing, which calls for more robust uninterruptible power sources (UPS).

Microsoft claims that its forthcoming Bing chat tool would have a conversational tone and be tailored to provide consumers with more background information when making complex questions. You can use a VPN to mask your search activities. 

What is ChatGPT / OpenAI?

You may be wondering, “What is ChatGPT?”

One of ChatGPT’s primary goals is to provide responses that sound as if they were really spoken. The key difference is that accuracy is less of an emphasis in ChatGPT. It’s a pleasant side effect, but it’s not the primary objective. All sorts of professional writing, from blogs to essays to coding, may be done in ChatGPT.

Using ChatGPT to write improves your flexibility to try out new things and generate fresh ideas for both content and code. One article in Psychology Today suggests otherwise:

• It’s possible that misleading information might be distributed on ChatGPT.
• Currently, ChatGPT can only provide information it has collected from the many sources it monitors.
• To put it another way, ChatGPT has no idea how reliable its results really are.
• Because ChatGPT is a more complex kind of convincing naturalistic engine, we should not take its claims at face value.

What does the ChatGPT acronym stand for?

Generative Pre-trained Transformer. The OpenAI Q&A Bot is a trial run of an AI-powered conversational interface. OpenAI claims that its model can imitate conversation by providing responses to follow-up queries, acknowledging mistakes, challenging false premises, and rejecting unsuitable requests.

It was taught via the machine learning technique of “Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback” (RLHF). During the training period, expert AI developers presented the system with mock discussions between users and the AI assistant. The latest version of the bot that has been publicly tested makes an effort to comprehend user enquiries and provide contextual, conversational responses.

How much does ChatGPT cost?

During the trial phase of the research, you may use ChatGPT at no cost. Like its sister model InstructGPT, ChatGPT is trained to react to a prompt by executing the specified actions. The company is excited to release ChatGPT and get feedback from users.

Who Owns ChatGPT?

OpenAI is behind ChatGPT. That firm, founded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk, makes money through licences of the bot to other firms. Significant progress has been made in artificial intelligence over the last year, which has prompted the development of this new development based on the GPT-3 language system.

Takeaway

ChatGPT is on the horizon and promises to greatly disrupt the search market. Search engines of the future will provide a whole different “conversation experience”.

ChatGPT encourages you to narrow your search by seeking more data, advice, or ideas until you obtain the clearest answer you need.

Microsoft Edge’s new chat and composition capabilities are meant to make the browser’s interface much more intuitive for users.

Microsoft claims that its new Edge Sidebar can summarise lengthy financial data, and that its chat features may be used to instantly create a comparison table between the financials of competing organisations.

You can even ask Edge for help with content creation, such as a LinkedIn post, by giving it some basic guidelines to follow. The next step is to get some assistance revising the content’s tone, structure, and loudness.

Especially during the mild recession, Australian businesses will look for ways to boost their efficiency post COVID-19.