Naver, Google plan to launch search chatbots against ChatGPT

The two online platforms, Google and Naver, have announced their plans to launch a search chatbot that will compete with the AI chatbot 'ChatGPT,’ which was released in November last year by an AI research lab OpenAI. This came as no surprise since they have been feeling threatened by the possibility of 'ChatGPT' potentially replacing the role of existing search engines.

Naver said on Friday that it would launch its version of SearchGPT, a new super-large AI-based search experience, by the end of June. “We are gearing up to handle Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said during the earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Choi expressed confidence that Naver would overcome the weaknesses of generative AI—the lack of credibility, recency, and accuracy, which is especially prominent when English-based models are translated into Korean. By integrating its ample user data and technological know-how, Naver will be able to overcome the issues Choi highlighted. However, Naver will not apply the search GPT straight to its current search engine.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, also announced Thursday that it would unveil an AI program to compete with ChatGPT in the coming weeks. According to Bloomberg, Google CEO Chief Sundar Pichai said Google would make artificial intelligence-based large language models such as LaMDA available in the coming weeks and months.

Users will soon be able to use language models “as a companion to search,” Pichai said on a conference call following the internet search giant’s fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday. “We are just beginning our AI journey, and the best is yet to come,” he highlighted.


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