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Alphabet reshuffles to meet ChatGPT threat and Sundar's not having a happy holiday
The Register ^

Posted on 12/25/2022 7:08:27 PM PST by FarCenter

IN BRIEF Sundar Pichai is apparently all in a pickle over OpenAI's ChatGPT engine, and is gearing up Google to meet the perceived threat.

According to an internal memo seen by the New York Times, Pichai has "upended the work of numerous groups inside the company to respond to the threat that ChatGPT," and is plucking staff from other divisions to meet the threat to the OpenAI's plans. It's reportedly considered a "Code Red" for the Chocolate Factory.

At issue is whether Google's core product, search, will be displaced by AI systems that can give more accurate research results, and that's a big if, for the moment at least.

"No company is invincible; all are vulnerable," said Margaret O'Mara, a professor at the University of Washington. "For companies that have become extraordinarily successful doing one market-defining thing, it is hard to have a second act with something entirely different."

The report suggests that Google will make a series of AI announcements on May to meet the growing threats to the search giant's business model. We'll see if these are functional products or just Google playing catch up.

Google has dominated the search market for 20 years, and anything that threatens that highly lucrative business - which makes up around 90 percent of Alphabet's profits - is something Sundar might well have reason to fear.

(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.com ...


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1 posted on 12/25/2022 7:08:27 PM PST by FarCenter
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To: FarCenter
If Google is to survive, it's got to change the organization, culture, and services. They have gotten complacent.

Reading KilledbyGoogle, it appears they acquire products or create them and abandon them, leaving customers in a lurch.

They seem to have difficulty executing anything not search related.

2 posted on 12/25/2022 7:44:01 PM PST by HonkyTonkMan ( )
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To: FarCenter

If you pull out the politics, Google’s search engine is very good.

For political searches, they have a cool technique to control the results, which is invisible to the users. Basically, when you type in “President Bush”, for example, they replace the search with “President Bush idiot”, and you get the results of that search (but never see the word “idiot”).

I have to admit, it’s a clever way to control the results.


3 posted on 12/25/2022 7:48:49 PM PST by BobL
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To: BobL

If you pull out the politics, Google’s search engine is very good.“

Maybe but that is an impossibility. It’s baked in and the users has no way turn it off.


4 posted on 12/25/2022 8:01:28 PM PST by gibsonguy
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To: FarCenter

I tested it for research. It is promising.


5 posted on 12/25/2022 8:08:41 PM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
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To: BobL

Well...he is indeed an idiot


6 posted on 12/25/2022 8:22:06 PM PST by montag813
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To: FarCenter

If Alphabet is to survive, it needs to fire it’s Indian management team.


7 posted on 12/25/2022 8:36:32 PM PST by Reno89519 (DeSantis or Anyone But Trump in 2024. Time for Trump to Retire, Spend Time With His Family.)
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To: gibsonguy

“Maybe but that is an impossibility. It’s baked in and the users has no way turn it off.”

Agree, but many things aren’t political (yet), and it’s still good for that.


8 posted on 12/25/2022 8:56:50 PM PST by BobL
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To: FarCenter

ChatGPT is a revolution waiting in the wings. Journalism, graphic design… even teaching itself is very soon… VERY SOON… going to be extinct professions.


9 posted on 12/25/2022 10:00:44 PM PST by freedomjusticeruleoflaw (Strange that a man with his wealth would have to resort to prostitution.)
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To: BobL

On top of that, I don’t think ChatGPT is yet a direct competitor of Google because ChatGPT doesn’t return sources and links (at least not that I have discovered).


10 posted on 12/26/2022 2:09:52 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: HonkyTonkMan

I have always understood that goo primary dollars are from US governmentwith large data centers. They provide cloud for many with of course the opportunity to scan all. all.
The search engine and all other ancillary services are nothing but vacuums


11 posted on 12/26/2022 2:47:58 AM PST by Chickensoup (Genocide is here. Leftist extremists are spearhheading the Genocide against conservatives. )
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To: BobL

I use dogpile. Scroll past sponsored and suggestions to get to real


12 posted on 12/26/2022 2:49:20 AM PST by Chickensoup (Genocide is here. Leftist extremists are spearhheading the Genocide against conservatives. )
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To: BobL

Modern politics, modern religion and modern science.

Pretty much the story with the big tech down the line.
Whether it is google, wikipedia, yahoo, reddit and ofc twitter pre Musk etc... when it comes to those three topics.


13 posted on 12/26/2022 2:54:46 AM PST by Freest Republican (This space for rent)
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To: FarCenter
At issue is whether Google's core product, search, will be displaced by AI systems that can give more accurate research results

Sorry, but I see this as the future of censorship.

14 posted on 12/26/2022 7:28:50 AM PST by VinnieCCT
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To: FarCenter

The genie is out of the bottle.

Google became such a powerful company by helping people find what they want, but it has become the company that helps people find what Google wants them to find.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is very powerful. I’ve used it to do some real work already. I’ve also tested to see if it can do humor. The answer: not too well... but a little. What I found most interesting is that I could not get it to do a roast because it is programmed to not insult anyone because that capability could be used for hate speech. I’m sure, at some point, it will be jailbroken. But this means that whoever controls an app built on it will be able to do the same sort of traffic steering that Google does now.


15 posted on 12/26/2022 8:38:35 AM PST by unlearner (RIP America. July 4, 1776 - December 13, 2022. )
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To: BobL

I would say the bias that runs throughout the Google search algorithms has way more impact than you think. Even the most benign non political searches run though the Google thought police protocol.


16 posted on 12/26/2022 9:39:53 AM PST by gibsonguy
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To: gibsonguy

“I would say the bias that runs throughout the Google search algorithms has way more impact than you think. Even the most benign non political searches run though the Google thought police protocol.”

I won’t argue that, I’m just saying that it’s much harder to rig non-political topics. For example, trying to claim 2+2 does not always equal 4 (to help minorities who are no longer being taught math) is certainly possible, but MUCH HARDER to sell to the general public than, say, ‘Russian Collusion’ (for example) - hence they have no choice except to be honest.


17 posted on 12/26/2022 9:43:50 AM PST by BobL
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To: BobL

but MUCH HARDER to sell to the general public


This is not the common sense America that we grew up in.

If they can convince people that c02 is a pollutant, they are working on the math, it doesn’t stop them.

So what does stop them?


18 posted on 12/26/2022 9:46:48 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: BobL

Fair point, it is worth noting there are other search that are are not as tainted. DDG used to be pretty straight but I think they have been turned


19 posted on 12/26/2022 9:47:02 AM PST by gibsonguy
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To: gibsonguy

Google’s search engine is good. But a lot of the web pages are bad.

But OpenAI doesn’t give you 50 web pages for you to look at which may or may not answer your question.

OpenAI returns very concise answers, usually excellently formatted with bullet points or numbered steps.

I see OpenAI dramatically reducing my google searches in the future.


20 posted on 12/26/2022 9:48:14 AM PST by DannyTN
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