MIT SMR Strategy Forum

Since "google" entered our vocabulary as a synonym for "search," Google's dominance in the search market has seemed unshakable, making the very idea of competition between search engines seem unlikely. But the entrance of generative AI tools like ChatGPT -- developed by OpenAI in partnership with Microsoft -- has ignited the potential for a competitor to knock Google's capabilities off the top of the search pyramid. Microsoft's new Bing Chat, which integrates the same AI technology that powers the ChatGPT bot, is already generating curiosity, controversy, and a long waitlist of would-be users. Google's parent company, Alphabet, has also developed its own AI chatbot, Bard. The future success and impact of these new technologies are very much open questions, so we turned to our expert panelists for their responses to this statement: The use of generative AI will restore competition in search.