Artificial intelligence (AI) tools have made a huge leap in recent times, especially the success of ChatGPT. All this progress has given companies a push to optimize their products, especially search engines. But Bill Gates has a somewhat pessimistic view for Google’s future: for the billionaire, the company must suffer an impact in his pocket with the evolution of these systems.
The executive’s speech came to the fore in an episode of the podcast In Good Company, released on Monday (20). Speaking about artificial intelligence, Gates was surprised by the advances in technology and said it’s the “biggest thing in this decade.” The tycoon also noted that you can’t tell who will be the champion at this point.
The co-founder of Microsoft then made considerations about the market. In the speech, he recalled that Google “owns all the search profits”, because it is the largest company in this segment. Even so, the company tends to be negatively impacted by the advances of artificial intelligence.
“Search profits will be low and their market share may be low because Microsoft was able to move pretty fast on that,” he said on the podcast.
And it’s not for less. Since the ChatGPT wave began, Microsoft, which has a foot in OpenAI, has begun to move. To get an idea, while Google and Tencent were worried about chatbot, the Head of Windows was already thinking about bringing the news to Bing. It didn’t take long and all of this took shape in both the search engine and Microsoft Edge.
Of course, everything is still recent and not complete. For example, Microsoft itself has warned that the new version of Bing can give wrong answers in a compelling way. But it already shows the potential that all this progress will bring.
Google is already moving
Google, of course, has already submitted its answer: The Bard. The company is also already facing some difficulties, such as offering wrong answers. But there are already some questions from the Internet regarding the future of search engines, the company’s main product.
Which is not unexpected. As noted by Business Insider in 2022, Google raised $224 billion in internet ads. Meanwhile, Microsoft repaid $18 billion by running advertisements.
The big question is that this mountain of money has a close relationship with seekers. According to a report by investment bank Jefferies, about 40% of last year’s digital ad revenue came from search-related advertising last year. That is, if AI tools gain more strength, the search giant risks facing some problems in the future.
But then comes the question: would the impact on revenue be that great? Because Google doesn’t just depend on the search engine to make money. In addition to having a giant ad platform that isn’t just limited to the search tool, the company sells other services, such as Workspace and Cloud for Business.
However, even if Google’s search profit is reduced, Microsoft still has a long way to go. After all, according to Statista, in December 2022, Google had 84.08% market share. Bing was well behind, with 8.95% market share.
