Microsoft, the manufacturer of the Windows operating system, is betting on its future with artificial intelligence, through billions of dollars in investments, while raising the banner of challenging Alphabet’s Google, which has outperformed Microsoft for years in Internet search and browsing technology.
Microsoft said it is updating its search engine (Bing) and Internet browser (Edge Web) with artificial intelligence, indicating its ambition to regain the lead in consumer technology markets in which it has fallen.
The manufacturer of the operating system (Windows) is betting on its future with artificial intelligence, through investments of billions of dollars, while raising the flag of the challenge to Alphabet’s Google, which has outperformed Microsoft for years in Internet search and browsing technology.
Now, Microsoft is introducing an intelligent chatbot to accompany Bing search results, putting artificial intelligence that can summarize web pages, synthesize disparate sources, and even compose and translate email messages, at the disposal of more consumers. Microsoft expects to make another $2 billion in search advertising revenue, for every percentage point its shares rise.
By working with start-up OpenAI, Microsoft aims to outpace its Silicon Valley rival and potentially reap huge revenues from tools that generally speed content creation and automation, if not the functionality itself. This will affect business products such as cloud computing and collaboration tools such as software and applications sold by Microsoft, as well as consumer Internet services.
“This technology is going to reshape pretty much every category of software,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told reporters at a briefing at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
Chat bot
The company’s share in the Internet search market so far is about 10%. However, many investors see the new technology as a win-win. Microsoft shares closed up 4.2% on Tuesday, while Alphabet rose 4.6%.
The power of so-called synthetic artificial intelligence, which can generate almost any text or image, was shown to the public last year with the release of ChatGPT, a chatbot from OpenIA. His human-like responses to any conversation or question have given people new ways to think about marketing possibilities, writing research papers, publishing news or how to query information online.
Bing’s chatbot can inform consumers of current events, a step beyond ChatGBT’s answers, which are currently limited to data until 2021.
Noticing Microsoft’s challenge, Google on Monday unveiled its own chatbot called Cool, as it plans to release its own search artificial intelligence that can aggregate material when there is no simple answer online.
And Microsoft’s decision to update its browser (Edge) will intensify competition with its competitor (Chrome) of Google. However, the Redmond-based company expects to roll out the updated Bing to other browsers eventually.
For the quarter ended December 31, Alphabet reported $42.6 billion in Google search and other revenue, while Microsoft reported $3.2 billion in search and news advertising.
