In Mountain View, California, on May 14, Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.O) showcased its advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) across its various ventures. This included enhancements to its Gemini chatbot and upgrades to its renowned search engine, as the tech giant accelerates its efforts to stay competitive in the AI landscape.
The series of announcements highlights Google’s commitment to revitalizing its offerings, particularly since the 2022 launch of ChatGPT by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, which captured public attention and posed a challenge to Google’s dominance in online search and AI.
Google’s latest endeavors include the introduction of Flash, an upgraded version of its Gemini 1.5 AI models that boasts improved speed and cost efficiency. Additionally, Project Astra, a prototype capable of engaging users in real-time conversations based on content captured by their smartphone cameras, was unveiled. Furthermore, search results now feature AI-generated headlines, enhancing user experience.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai expressed optimism about the company’s growth prospects amid these AI updates, despite potential impacts on its profitable business model.
Presented during Google’s annual I/O developer event, the product showcase in Mountain View followed a similar event by rival OpenAI the day before. OpenAI showcased the capabilities of ChatGPT, demonstrating its ability to provide responses with human-like nuances to written or visual prompts. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, described the software as reminiscent of AI depicted in movies.
While Google’s announcements covered overlapping features with OpenAI’s offerings, they underscore the intense rivalry between these two leading AI developers.
