Whilst we may be accustomed to artificial intelligence impacting our everyday lives, there’s always something new right around the corner.
In November 2022, innovative tech company OpenAI launched their brand new software, ChatGPT. The software is currently available for free as part of their research trial which aims to iron out any creases with the platform, before officially launching. With reports that ChatGPT may give Google a run for it’s money, we take a deep-dive into this new AI tool.
What is ChatGPT?
Put simply, ChatGPT is an evolution of the generic chatbots we’ve become so familiar to engaging with when doing tasks such as online shopping or enquiring about a product online. These chatbots are fundamentally driven by software that allows them to understand, process and respond to the natural human language in simple terms due to their Natural Language Processing (NLP) proficiency.
However, there are many obvious limitations to this type of chatbot: Think of the times when you’ve instant messaged a bot on the Ikea app or asked Alexa a question – it’s clear that you aren’t conversing with a real person as you’ll often receive unrelated or stunted responses.
ChatGPT is a level above these bots as according to founder OpenAI, the new chatbot will additionally:
“Answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.”
Therefore, the interactions and helpfulness of ChatGPT is projected to be a cut above the rest. To put the software to the ultimate test, we asked the bot what ChatGPT actually is and after a few failed attempts, got a great answer:
As you can see, there are a few teething problems with the software but overall, it’s a pretty impressive tool. Not only can the bot respond to questions, it also offers both a creative and academic side. Ask ChatGPT to write a story, song, poem, essay or computer programme and you’ll be amazed! Try it for yourself right here.
ChatGPT Vs Google
The question on everyone’s lips at this moment in time is “will ChatGPT overtake Google?”
There are many advantages of ChatGPT when compared to Google. First and foremost, ChatGPT could be considered a more user-friendly search engine. Instead of users scrolling through a range of results to find the exact information a user is looking for, they simply type in their query and get an immediate and accurate response.
Considering that time is of the essence when it comes to users surfing the web, it’s clear that ChatGPT has an advantage here. Additionally, ChatGPT has a deeper understanding of a user’s search intent as it can provide more personalised results based on previous interactions.
Photo by Edho Pratama on Unsplash
However as it stands today, ChatGPT provides largely inaccurate and somewhat untruthful responses to queries as it often makes predictions of reality instead of stating facts. This is probably the chatbot’s greatest downfall and will likely result in a lack of adoption until the software becomes more accurate and reliable.
Google also has a key advantage in terms of the way it displays results in a merit-based hierarchy. Unlike ChatGPT which only presents users with one answer (unless you generate an additional response), Google provides a variety of authoritative and trustworthy results that allow users to be discerning with the source they choose to rely upon.
Overall, it’s clear that ChatGPT has certainly created a buzz and shaken Google’s reign – albeit ever-so slightly. However, we really don’t see the new chatbot overtaking the almighty search engine anytime soon!
If you don’t know whether a Chatbot or Live Chat function is best for your site, read our blog to find out!
