Microsoft has sought to revive its ambitions of challenging Google’s search engine dominance in a deal with an artificial intelligence robot backed by Elon Musk.
The Silicon Valley company behind Windows and Office software is working with OpenAI, an AI company, on its ChatGPT software that has taken the technology world by storm.
The chatbot is able to provide human-like answers to questions and problems, akin to Amazon’s Alexa, presenting a potential rival to Google’s search tools.
Microsoft does seem to be making the same mistake again. Thinking that it’s the interface to search which is important, the manner of interrogation.
When, well for some users at least, it’s the answers themselves that matter, not the form of the delivery?
Interesting point Tim. Maybe it depends on who you are.
I’ve been using the internet before there was an internet. I certainly now how to navigate it. If using a search engine, I’m pretty good at crafting the search parameters to get results I want. If the f*****g search engine will let me! So I want the minimal interface between me & the net. My phone’s got something called Google Assistant. I haven’t a clue what it’s supposed to do, I don’t I wouldn’t use it, I thought I’d uninstalled it but it still hasn’t gone away. It still keeps popping up. W10 had something similar until I killed. And that’s been known to reappear after updates. W10 itself. I run in a W2k shell. I don’t need 10’s glossy irritating, interfering interface. I certainly don’t want to have voice communications with f*****g computer. I don’t even have a mike.
So maybe you’re someone like me.
But the majority of people use the net are functional morons. Most of the people I know seem to think the entire thing happens on Google. That’s how they get to websites. Through Google Search. If you mention web browsers they just look at you blankly.
So to them, the interface is everything. If it’s not done for them they can’t do it.
If MS wants to break Google’s monopoly on search, it’s not the engine that’s the problem. It’s trying to break the hold Google (& Apple) have on the interface aspect. No matter how good their search engine is the morons won’t use it. They won’t even know about it. And it’s the moron market they have to capture.
I asked ChatGPT to give me some advantages a natural chat interface would bring to a search engine. This is what it replied with;
“There are several potential advantages that a natural chat interface could bring to a search engine:
Improved usability: A chat interface may be more intuitive and easier to use for some users, especially those who are more comfortable communicating through text-based platforms like messaging apps.
Enhanced personalization: A chat interface could allow for more personalized search results by using conversational context to better understand the user’s needs and preferences.
Increased engagement: A chat interface could encourage users to spend more time on the search engine by allowing them to ask more specific, targeted questions and receive more detailed answers.
Greater convenience: A chat interface could allow users to search for information more quickly and easily, without having to navigate through multiple pages or menus.
Improved accessibility: A chat interface could make the search engine more accessible to users with disabilities, such as those who have difficulty using a traditional web interface due to visual impairments.”
I know it’s just remixing stuff it has been trained on that people have put on the internet, but it’s an impressive technology.
It would help their cause if bing wasn’t total dogshit.
Fair enough, dotdavid. But who’s going to use it? The world’s moron community are firmly wedded to the Android & Apple platforms. Shame MS abandoned the phone market, because it’s mobile internet’s the main market.
Search users aren’t the customers tho.
Google’s responsibility is to promote the results its advertisers, three-letter-agency handlers, etc, want to see promoted. This is why Google routinely ignores essential words in searches, can no longer handle any kind of Boolean search, it just serves up the crap it wants to feed you. At least the more blatant content farms have been deprioritised recently.
If anyone did actually come up with a search engine that served users with quality results, some c*** would only come along and buy it and turn it into another Google, beholden to advertisers, three-letter-agency handlers, etc. If Microsoft are doing it you can bet they already have plans to do that anyway, however chic their new interface gets.
I’m with BiS. I use a PC to access the internet, I don’t own a smart phone. I watch people searching for stuff on their phones, its painful, they are spending ages trying to find something that I could have done in 5 seconds on my desktop.
@BiS, it’s not at all a shame that MS abandoned the phone market – their implementation (Windows Phone) sucked dead bunnies, as the sainted Pournelle used to say.
What is a shame is that they’re still trying to build a UI that looks and feels like a phone. Tossers.
Slightly OT. I got sick of Google and Bing and moved to DDG as a primary search engine. Unfortunately they stopped polling multiple search engines for results and now output the results from Bing, which as mentioned above is terrible.
Anyone got any alternatives?
The chatbot is able to provide human-like answers to questions and problems,
Provided the “human like” response you want is at the level of understanding of a six year old determined to never make an actual decision.
Sure the spelling and grammar are good, and the answer contains much that you can find within a couple of minutes searching. (I might add on a couple of questions it got things 100% wrong, in a way no human expert ever could.)
But ask it to do something human, and it gives you an answer from an encyclopedia.
ME : What is the one big weakness of modern monetary theory?
IT : Modern monetary theory (MMT) is a macroeconomic theory that focuses on the role of government spending and taxation in the economy. One potential weakness of MMT is that it may not fully take into account the potential negative consequences of high levels of government debt. While MMT proponents argue that governments that control their own currency can simply print more money to pay off their debts, this can lead to inflation if the increase in the money supply outpaces economic growth. Inflation can be particularly harmful to those on fixed incomes, such as retirees, and can also lead to other economic problems.
ME : OK, but that “potential weakness”, is it actually that the critics are correct?
IT : It is a matter of debate among economists whether the potential negative consequences of high levels of government debt outlined above are a legitimate weakness of MMT or not. MMT proponents argue that these consequences can be avoided through proper management of the economy, such as by raising taxes or decreasing government spending to offset any potential inflationary pressure. Critics of MMT argue that these measures may not be sufficient to prevent inflation and that high levels of government debt can still lead to economic instability and other problems. Ultimately, the effectiveness of MMT in addressing the potential negative consequences of high levels of government debt depends on the specific circumstances of each individual economy.
ME : Stop prevaricating. Will MMT lead to inflation or not?
IT : It is not accurate to say that MMT will necessarily lead to inflation. MMT is a macroeconomic theory that focuses on the role of government spending and taxation in the economy, and it does not make any specific predictions about the level of inflation in an economy. The relationship between government spending, taxation, and inflation is complex and depends on a variety of factors, including the level of economic activity, the availability of goods and services, and the overall stability of the financial system. In some circumstances, MMT could potentially contribute to inflationary pressures, but in other circumstances it may not.
And so on, endlessly, on any topic. It simply will never make a decision, no matter how hard you try to get it to.
It just repeats both sides of any contentious matter, as if it wants to get a “C” on an undergrad essay.
“I know it’s just remixing stuff it has been trained on”
Yep.
Q: Are men overrepresented in the US finance industry, compared to their percentage of the population?
Q: Are White people overrepresented in the US finance industry, compared to their percentage of the population?
Q: Are Jews overrepresented in the US finance industry, compared to their percentage of the population?
@KyleT – Brilliant. Simply brilliant. We have a high tech parrot.
And so on, endlessly, on any topic. It simply will never make a decision, no matter how hard you try to get it to.
Ask it about the advantages of fossil fuels. All of a sudden it gets very decisiony.
Results used to be based on search intent and user satisfaction for landing pages. Now it’s about engineers and activists deciding what you should be searching for and which results the corporations and governments want you to see.
It’s all gone downhill since Altavista ruled the roost. Booleans used to work when actual geeks ran the show.
Search Engines, like much of our society, seem to be disimproving at an accelerating pace.
I hear that Elon is giving the order of the boot to more Twitter “engineers”.
Does anyone know off the top of their head what percentage of employees @Twitter did any *actual* work?
@BlokeInBrum
Judging by the amount of staff he’s fired, something like 10%.
He also used a technique, forget it’s name, where he gave unrealistic deadlines and grueling workloads for about a week or two, to see who was willing to work the extra hours and who would buckle under the pressure. Weeded out the dead weight fairly quickly.
I gave up on DDG. These days I just use google in
pornincognito mode.Seems useful in some areas of research.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/01/chatgpt-and-the-revenge-of-history.html