First-mover advantage is an advantage that can be over-rated.
A lot of investors have been naively writing off Alphabet after Microsoft’s OpenAI‘s ChatGPT pipped them into releasing a Large Language Model (LLM) AI chatbot.
History will always remember the fact that Google lost the race of introducing the world’s first AI-powered LLM chatbot. But does that mean Google’s advantage and strength in AI and its Search business is over?
The beef is in the latest Google I/O.
The latest Google I/O shows that Google is going all out
Even though many (even me) do think that ChatGPT is much better than Bard, that does not mean Bard is not great.
And in fact, Bard is just the tip of the iceberg of how Google plans to roll out artificial intelligence in full force.
In the latest Google I/O, an annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View, California, Google has made public plenty of exciting products and services.
And for those who have stopped tinkering around with ChatGPT, Bard’s waitlist is removed and its database is updated frequently from the internet, unlike ChatGPT’s database which is only up to 2021.
In a world where data accuracy and speed is non-negotiable, so long as Bard can reply accurately with updated fact and figures of our prompts, Bard should counter-attack the threats posed by ChatGPT.
AI + Hardware combo
If Apple is the company that perfected the art of making a great Operating System (OS) and hardware, then Google could very well be the company that perfected AI with software and bundled it into hardware.
Google went into full assault mode with the launch of Pixel Tablet, Pixel 7a, and Pixel Fold. Although the specs might still fall short against the likes of Apple and Samsung, but hey, no one expected a folding Google phone a year ago.
One of the key reasons in my opinion is how reliant Google was on Samsung and other Android phones in ensuring that the Android Operating System (OS) stays strong. But if you do follow tech news, Samsung and Google have always had a love-hate relationship with each other.
Now with smartphones becoming smarter, Google has proven that shortcomings in hardware can be overcome with software advantages. Google’s suite of apps have been slowly supercharged by AI.
The tech giant is now moving into the next phase of creating a walled garden, by entering into the hardware business.
An AI for the public, and not just for programmers
I’d be honest.
With no coding and advanced prompting skills, I feel little to no differences between the free-to-use ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4.
It didn’t blow my mind as much as the simple-to-understand, visually different photo enhancement functions like Magic Eraser and Magic Editor.
Magic Eraser has been around for quite some time, albeit as a paid function if you subscribe to Google One. But as Google introduces more easy-to-use photo editing functions, they are definitely going to lower the resistance to getting subscribers.
This by no means is understating ChatGPT-4, but rather, pointing out how potentially Google could turn the tide around by introducing consumer-centric AI-powered products and services.
Duet AI – Google Workspace with AI
Duet AI is Google’s answer to Microsoft’s Copilot.
With Duet AI, Google will bring the Midjourney and ChatGPT functions to your spreadsheets, slides, and even Word documents.
Think about it: no more manually crafting stunning decks from scratch, or manual data tabulation. With Duet AI, whatever is captured from emails, and even on Google Meet, can all be neatly tabulated, and visualized for your next action.
From the I/O presentation, Duet AI can not only act via prompts but can suggest improvements, generate ideas, and remind you of certain blind spots.
Look who’s making Microsoft Office dance now.
Your move, OpenAI & Microsoft?
The fear of Google becoming obsolete when ChatGPT took over the world by storm, is now but a distant memory of fear-mongering.
Google might still have some grounds to catch up against OpenAI and Microsoft, if the supremacy of each LLM chatbot is at stake.
But if we take a step back and really think about it, the algorithm, the efficacy of a Google or YouTube search, and the annoying ads that somehow do seem relevant, are all the basic building blocks and simple examples of how AI has percolated in our lives many, many years ago.
The massive selldown due to earnings drops and the looming fear of Google Search becoming obsolete is less likely now judging by what Google has brought to the table in their conference.
It would be difficult to predict out of the 2 companies, which one will emerge as the winner.
I think both companies can flourish and continue pushing each other for the next few years.
Buy both horses if it suits your strategy. Chances are, both will still create good wins in the future.
