Summary:
Google employees were taken aback last month when they discovered that Samsung, a leading South Korean consumer electronics company, was considering replacing Google with Microsoft’s Bing as the default search engine on its devices, reports The New York Times.
This came as Bing, which had long been a lesser player in the search engine market, adopted new artificial intelligence technology, capturing the attention of industry insiders.
The potential loss of the Samsung contract had Google on edge, as it could cost them an estimated $3 billion in annual revenue. Furthermore, an additional $20 billion is connected to a similar contract with Apple, due for renewal later this year.
As AI-powered competitors like Bing pose the most significant threat to Google’s search business in 25 years, the tech giant has accelerated its efforts to create a new AI-driven search engine and integrate AI features into the existing one, based on documents seen by The Times.
Under the project name “Magi,” Google’s teams are collaborating in sprint rooms to develop and test the latest versions. The new search engine aims to provide users with a more personalized experience, anticipating their needs.
Google spokesperson Lara Levin stated, “Not every brainstorm deck or product idea leads to a launch, but as we’ve said before, we’re excited about bringing new AI-powered features to search, and will share more details soon.”
In light of OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, Google has become increasingly concerned about AI competition. Consequently, the company established a task force in its search division to create AI products. Modernizing its search engine has become an obsession at Google, as the proposed changes could introduce new AI technology to phones and homes worldwide.
The news that Samsung, which produces hundreds of millions of smartphones running Google’s Android software annually, would even consider switching search engines came as a shock to Google employees. The company is now seeking volunteers to help prepare a pitch to Samsung, hoping to retain their business.
As part of its efforts, Google recently invited employees to test Magi’s features, gauging the search engine’s ability to hold a conversation. The tech giant plans to release these tools to the public next month, with additional features to follow in the fall, note documents. Initially, the features will be available exclusively to one million users in the United States, with the number expected to grow to 30 million by year’s end.
Samsung switching over to Bing instead of Google search would be a huge win for Microsoft. The AI wars are just beginning and it would be interesting if Apple would ever consider Bing as a default search engine as well on its iPhone, iPad and Mac devices.
