Updated 07 April 2023

• Sundar Pichai says company is testing several new products
• Opportunity will give more power and flexibility, insists chief

Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, has revealed in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the search engine giant plans to integrate conversational AI features into its search engine. Pichai believes that AI will improve the user experience and provide people with greater power and flexibility when searching online.

Google is a leader in the development of large language models, which are AI models that can generate natural language text from vast amounts of data. Microsoft recently launched an upgraded version of its Bing search engine, powered by ChatGPT, a popular AI chatbot developed by OpenAI. This technology has also been integrated into Microsoft’s Edge browser and other Microsoft 365 applications and services.

Google has been a dominant player in the search engine technology field, with its algorithm powering its search engine and accounting for over half of Alphabet’s revenue. Pichai believes that the opportunity for chatbots and large language models is even greater than before and is testing several new AI-powered search products.

Google released its own AI chatbot, Bard, in February, which is similar to ChatGPT, hinting at possible plans to integrate the technology into its search engine. Pichai has confirmed that Google is “thoughtfully integrating LLMs into search in a deeper way,” but the company has not yet released any specific information about how or when this will be done.

Although the AI race has brought energy and optimism to the tech industry, the sector is still facing economic uncertainty, with companies cutting costs and laying off employees. Google has announced some cutbacks, including reductions in employee perks such as dining facilities and computing infrastructure.