Introduction

Microsoft and Google are all set to compete in the search arena. Microsoft has already integrated ChatGPT in Teams, the Bing search engine and Edge but Google is also not holding back.

In this article we take a look at where the two tech giants currently stand in the race of AI innovation. 

Microsoft

Microsoft and OpenAI have been in a long term relationship. However, recently the tech giant invested multi billion dollars in OpenAI. This was done in order to hasten breakthroughs in AI and to ensure that the benefits are widely distributed globally. 

According to Microsoft, “This agreement follows our previous investments in 2019 and 2021. It extends our ongoing collaboration across AI supercomputing and research and enables each of us to independently commercialize the resulting advanced AI technologies.”

This initiative has made it clear that Microsoft is not ready to lose on the next revolution, as it has previously lost over the internet and the mobile revolution. 

The big bet that Microsoft makes with this investment has already started to pay off as the services of OpenAI are now being completed over Azure which is a Microsoft Cloud infrastructure. Thus, every time a user uses ChatGPT, it means more money for Azure. 

Azure OpenAI Service, which is now widely accessible, is enabling businesses to utilize the world's most advanced AI models such as GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL•E 2, with the security and AI-enhanced infrastructure of Microsoft Azure.

This will enable the creation of innovative applications. ChatGPT, a version of GPT-3.5 optimized for Azure AI, will soon be available through the Azure OpenAI Service.

As speculated a few days ago, Microsoft has started the integration of ChatGPT in some of its products including Teams but most importantly in Edge and the Bing Search Engine. 

Microsoft claims that they “have brought together search, browsing and chat into one unified experience you can invoke from anywhere on the web.” 

With this integration, Microsoft will be able to deliver:

Better Search: The updated Bing provides a better version of the well-known search experience, delivering more accurate results for basic information such as sports scores, stock prices, and weather. It also features a new sidebar that displays comprehensive answers if desired.

Complete Answers: Bing examines results from the internet to identify and present the answer you seek. For instance, you can quickly obtain step-by-step instructions for replacing eggs with another ingredient in a cake you are baking, without having to go through multiple search results

A New Chat Experience: For more complex queries, such as planning a comprehensive trip itinerary or deciding on a TV purchase, the updated Bing provides a new interactive chat feature. The chat experience allows you to clarify and expand your search until you find the complete answer you need by asking for additional information, clarity, and suggestions, with links available for immediate implementation of your decisions.

Creativity:  Sometimes, you require more than just an answer, you need inspiration. The updated Bing can provide that by generating content to assist you. It can assist you in composing an email, planning a 5-day itinerary for a Hawaiian vacation with links to book travel and lodging, preparing for a job interview, or creating a quiz for trivia night. The new Bing also lists all its sources, allowing you to see links to the web content it references.

New Microsoft Edge Experience:  The Edge browser has been enhanced with new AI capabilities and a fresh look. It also has two new functions: Chat and Compose. 

With the Edge Sidebar, users can request a summary of a lengthy financial report to get the essential insights, and then use the chat feature to compare the report with a competitor's financials and display it in a table format. 

They can also ask Edge to assist in composing content, such as a LinkedIn post, by providing it with a few prompts to get started. Then, they can ask it to help refine the tone, format, and length of the post. Edge is able to comprehend the web page that the users are on and adjusts accordingly.

Google

Feeling slightly threatened by the partnership, Google had declared "code red" and its co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, made an unexpected appearance to work on improving the search engine.

Quickly, Google made a $300 million investment in Anthropic, an AI safety and research firm founded by Dario Amodei, former VP of OpenAI. 

Google has now introduced its ChatGPT counterpart "Bard," and plans to provide further information on its AI vision in another press event. Google's LaMDA technology is a language model used to build AI chatbots.

Google plans to make the Bard chatbot, built using LaMDA, more widely accessible in the near future. Currently it is only available to internal testers. It is also important to note that LaMDA is similar to OpenAI's GPT series of AI language models, which is also used in building conversational AI systems like ChatGPT.

According to Sundar Pichai, Bard aims to merge the vastness of the world's knowledge with the capabilities, intelligence, and imagination of advanced language models. It utilizes information from the web to deliver up-to-date, high-quality answers. 

This is indeed a competitive advantage over ChatGPT which is slightly outdated.

Additionally, Google plans to bring its latest AI technologies including LaMDA, PaLM, Imagen and MusicLM to its products including search. This will allow Google search to potentially help people get detailed answers to their insightful queries. 

Lastly, Google’s CEO has revealed that  they will be coming out with a Generative Language API for developers in order to help them build powerful AI solutions. The API will initially be available to individual developers, creators and enterprises.

The company intends to create a suite of AI tools and APIs to enable building innovative applications. Google also aims to help scale AI efforts through partnerships of Google Cloud with companies like Cohere, C3.ai, and Anthropic.