How Does Generative AI Search Work?

Generative AI has created quite a buzz lately, and people are curious. Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November last year, it has got 100 million users putting it to good use. And believe it or not, it is doing a pretty good job for the intended purpose. As a generative AI Chatbot trained on a massive dataset of dialogue-based texts and codes, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has captured the attention of literally everyone who is even slightly keeping up tabs on new tech, and it has got 100m users to prove my point.

So, what is generative AI, how do people use it to search queries, and how does this generative AI search work?

Well, first thing first. Generative AI is a kind of machine learning (ML) that uses algorithms to create new data from existing datasets of texts, audio, visuals, and codes, that can be used for various tasks such as image generation, text summarization, audio and video generation, and natural language processing. ChatGPT is also a generative AI-based chatbot, capable of having human-like conversations, but way more powerful and efficient than Siri and Google Assistant.

At present, OpenAI’s ChatGPT is freely available for people to try out the limited capabilities of this generative AI-based conversational tool— but its newer and upgraded version, ChatGPT Plus, is not free. Users can still take a USD 20 subscription plan to use the new GPT-4 (a large language model) based- ChatGPT Plus, which offers larger context as input and can have more extensive and more creative content than its predecessor.

Microsoft also integrated OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model customized specifically for search in its Bing Search and launched it as the ‘New Bing’. In a blog post, Microsoft says,

“New AI Bing is an AI-enhanced web search experience that can provide you with better search, more complete answers, a new chat experience and the ability to generate content.’’

Microsoft Chairman CEO, Mr. Satya Nadella, on the day of its launch, said that AI would fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest of all being the search category. He added, “Today, we’re launching Bing and Edge powered by AI copilot and chat, to help people get more from search and the web.’’

Although, the new Bing search is not yet available for everybody to use as Microsoft is yet to roll it out for everyone.

For a moment, you’d wonder where is Google— the company which ruled web searches over the past two decades. Well, Google is not behind in this Generative AI race. It’s working on its very own Generative AI chatbot named Bard— based on Google’s large language model, LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). Google announced it in its 2021 annual Google I/O meet.

Google’s Bard Vs. Microsoft’s Bing Chat: The Clash of Titans

Both Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing Chat are performing well. Bard hasn’t been yet launched here in India; however, you can use Bing Chat.

StartupTalkyAbira Dutta

Google CEO Sunder Pichai on February 6, one day before the launch of Microsoft’s new Bing AI, introduced Bard in a blog post. “Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence, and creativity of our large language models”, said Mr. Pichai.

Google says that it aims to bring the benefits of AI into our everyday products, and it isn’t in the race for AI first. Perhaps that is why Google is behind Microsoft and playing catch up, but there are other participants in this AI race tool. Apple Inc. is also working on its own AI model, and so is IBM.

The Generative AI Search

Search, as we know it, is simply opening our favorite web browser and search engine— Bing, Yahoo, or Google, and typing in the query we want to look for. Sometimes it’s not even a query. We simply type in the word ‘Cat’, and the search engine comes up with a list of websites that it believes have the answer to our questions (the input) accurately. Well, that is how keyword-based traditional search works.

The generative AI search, on the other hand, is a relatively new technology that uses machine learning and natural language processing to search for information. It works by analyzing large amounts of data and generating new, relevant results based on the input provided. The process involves gathering data from multiple sources such as websites, databases, or social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook. This data is then analyzed using algorithms designed particularly for the task at hand—in this case, digging through vast amounts of information quickly and accurately finding what you are looking for— all without you having manually look through each piece.

The AI-based algorithm looks at patterns in the text that indicate specific topics are related, thus, helping to narrow down your results even further before presenting them back out again as an organized list with all relevant options included within it.

The next step involves taking those generated results and running them against various other sources, such as images or videos if necessary; this allows you to get a better understanding of what exactly was found during your initial query process – giving users access not only textual but also visual content when searching online too.

Finally, once everything has been collected together into one place, then sort these items according to their relevance level - making sure that only the most relevant pieces appear first, and the lesser ones stay towards the bottom part where nobody would bother looking anyway all this while presenting it to you in a human-like output. Well, that’s the gist of it.

You must understand that the algorithm searches through all kinds of data, be it text, image, audio, or video because generative AI is not just limited to text.

Ultimately generative AI searches provide you with an efficient way of finding answers quickly regardless you know anything about the topic beforehand or not – allowing you to save time (well, time is money!) while still getting quality output every single time.

How Generative AI Search Differs from Traditional Web Search

Google has, time and again, emphasized that it uses AI (BERT, MUM) to give you quick and accurate results, but generative AI search is quite different from traditional searching. For one, it uses deep learning models instead of keyword-based indexing systems like those used by most popular web browsers today.

Deep learning models can understand complex relationships between data points within a dataset, allowing them to skillfully understand what users are searching for when they enter their queries into the system. For example, if someone were searching for “Italian restaurants near me” on Google or Bing, these services would typically return listings based solely on keywords entered by the user without considering any additional factors such as location or cuisine preference—but with an advanced generative AI system in place these criteria could be taken into account as well resulting in much more accurate recommendations are tailored specifically to meet per needs.

Generative AI Search also allows you to enhance your search results through conversation and generate the relevant answers in a human-like output while providing you with link(s) to the resources it compiled the results from. Another advantage that comes with using an advanced generative AI system over conventional ones is its ability to identify patterns amongst the vast amount of data and produce the most relevant results without requiring you to put too much effort or time into researching your query firsthand.

Generative AI searches can generate more relevant results than regular keyword-based searches because of their ability to understand natural language queries and return personalized recommendations based on user preferences. Generative AI search would certainly revolutionize web search, but what matters most is accurate and unbiased AI, as the results can only be as good as the training data set. While Microsoft has already launched its New Bing AI and Chat with its enhanced edge web browser, Google is not rushing into the AI race and improving its generative AI-based chatbot Bard.

FAQs

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI is a kind of machine learning (ML) that uses algorithms to create new data from existing datasets of texts, audio, visuals, and codes, that can be used for various tasks such as image generation, text summarization, audio and video generation, and natural language processing.

How does Generative AI search work?

The generative AI search, on the other hand, is a relatively new technology that uses machine learning and natural language processing to search for information.