In this photo illustration, the Google logo is displayed on the screen of a mobile phone with AI. … [+]
It happens. One of the world’s largest technology companies is integrating generative artificial intelligence into its massive installed base.
Executives at Google
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in August, it was announced that generative AI would be coming to the Google Assistant, the ubiquitous digital assistant that underpins Google Home, Auto, and mobile software.
This is a big deal. This is the first shot fired in the real digital assistant war.
Most people are familiar with digital assistants. Siri Apple
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Chat GTP, a chatbot from OpenAI has taken the world by storm. Reuters reported in February, the software platform was the fastest to reach 100 million users, disrupting Facebook, Instagram and even Tik Tok.
Eight months after its launch, ChatGPT is part of the Zeitgeist.
The appeal of the large language model chatbot lies in its conversational quality. Chat GTP appears to be having a conversation with users.
Google is perfectly capable of reproducing this parlor trick. Certainly, the current state of generative AI does not allow for real conversations. AI is not sentient. Chatbots, including GTP chat, only simulate a conversation.
At Google I/O in 2018, CEO Sundar Pichai revealed Google Duplex. This short YouTube Video clip shows that the impressive software algorithm was capable of imitating a real personal assistant, including voice inflection and human-like linguistic cues. The developers were stunned when Duplex called a local hair salon and made a reservation with an unsuspecting employee.
These features have since migrated to Google Pixel phones as proprietary software. Google is also experimenting with duplex in call centers. Duplex lives in the real world.
According to an early August email to employees, Peeyyush Ranjan, vice president of engineering at Assistant, the company will integrate large-scale language model technology into Assistant. “We have also seen the profound potential of generative AI to transform people’s lives and see a huge opportunity to explore what a supercharged assistant, powered by LLM technology, would look like,” Ranyan wrote.
Bringing Google’s AI prowess to Assistant in general is a much bigger deal. Assistant is in every Google product, from Maps and Chrome to Google Docs and Search. Most importantly, Google Assistant is the voice prompt for Google Home, Android Auto and Android. This software lives in the background on billions of devices.
If Google can bring an assistant comparable to Duplex to all of these devices, it will be a game changer. It is the flagship application of generative AI because it is accessible.
Of course, this will disrupt Google’s native digital advertising model. The company is moving from its successful 10 Blue Links strategy to software that provides answers.
Investors should think longer term.
Google knows a lot about its users. The company is also the go-to gatekeeper for most of the world’s information through Google Search. A reliable AD embraces these elements. It is powerful and precious. Members would likely pay for a subscription to upgraded features. It’s a big business that could eventually supplant the advertising model.
At $129.35, shares of Alphabet (GOOGL), Google’s parent company, trades at just 19.6 times earnings and 5.5 times sales. Investors should take advantage of any significant decline to buy stocks.
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