I can't remember the last time I used Microsoft's Bing search engine. But if Microsoft's plan to power Bing with OpenAI's GPT technology is successful, I'll probably start using it a lot more, and I suspect others will, too.
BingGPT could be bad news for Google, which has a near-monopoly on search. When OpenAI launched the experimental ChatGPT late last year, Google reportedly went into panic mode. From The New York Times:
Although ChatGPT still has plenty of room for improvement, its release led Google's management to declare a "code red." For Google, this was akin to pulling the fire alarm. Some fear the company may be approaching a moment that the biggest Silicon Valley outfits dread — the arrival of an enormous technological change that could upend the business.
I wonder why Google didn't try to license the technology before Microsoft did? It could be that Microsoft's $1 billion investment in OpenAI back in 2019 gave it first dibs. Or it could be that Google has a similar technology that it's keeping secret.
