The Future of Search is Here, and Its Going to Lie to You
Microsoft is first out of the gate with an "AI" powered chat search:
Microsoft has announced a new version of its search engine Bing, powered by an upgraded version of the same AI technology that underpins chatbot ChatGPT. The company is launching the product alongside new AI-enhanced features for its Edge browser, promising that the two will provide a new experience for browsing the web and finding information online.
“It’s a new day in search,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at an event announcing the products. Nadella argued that the paradigm for web search hasn’t changed in decades, but that AI can deliver information more fluidly and quickly than traditional methods.
Microsoft announces new Bing and Edge browser powered by upgraded ChatGPT AI - The Verge
The problem is that AI chatbots are known liars, and Microsoft is admitting that up front:
The latter point is the most important, as AI language systems like ChatGPT have a well-documented tendency to present false information as fact. Although researchers have warned about this problem for years, there have been countless examples of AI-generated errors since ChatGPT launched on the web — from chatbots making up biographical details about real people to fabricating academic papers and offering dangerous medical advice.
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However, the company is also evidently preparing for its systems to make mistakes (though the company will be hoping not as badly as its failed 2016 chatbot Tay). The interface for the new Bing includes a warning to users: “Let’s learn together. Bing is powered by AI, so surprises and mistakes are possible. Make sure to check the facts, and share feedback so we can learn and improve!”
Isn't that nice? The giant search company tells you up front that the information about what to do in case of a seizure is so wrong as to be life threatening. Very considerate of them. For those of you already saying that traditional search results could always turn up bogus information: yes, that is true. But traditional search results came with links so you could evaluate the source of the information, and the bad results came one among many, so you had options and usually could find an authoritative result. These chatbots merely give you a paragraph of human sounding text with no real way to determine if they are giving you good advice or about to send you to your fiery death.
Remember, there is no such thing as artificial intelligence. This is just a giant correlation machine putting text snippets together because it has seen enough previous text snippets that look like the ones it is giving you in a similar context. That is it. No magic, no authoritative information. Just correlations. Sometimes they are constrained enough by domain space and training data to be useful, sometimes they tell you Abraham Lincoln killed zombies.
And now, Microsoft and soon Google want you to use those devices to answer all your questions. Searcher beware.