By Jim Lundy
ChatGPT and the Workplace Revolution: Microsoft Declares War on Google
The majority of the news this week has been about layoffs at both Microsoft and Alphabet. The other big news is all of the work Microsoft has been doing with OpenAI to formally add ChatGPT and other products to Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Office. This is a war for the future of generative content.
This blog talks about the upcoming AI war between Google and Microsoft.
ChatGPT and the Realization that AI is Real and Works
What happened between December and January was that the open beta for ChatGPT made millions of consumers and business users realize that AI is real and they can help people get work done. It included business people but also students. The more interesting factoid is that Microsoft saw the future of OpenAI several years ago.
Is There a War Between Microsoft and Google for AI?
The short answer is yes.
However, it is only now that Google realizes that Microsoft is coming for them. One of the criticisms of Google is that because of the extreme dependence on revenue search-based advertising, they have been reluctant to introduce its best AI into the market.
Even though Google issued a red alert last month when ChatGPT took off, there are rumors that the Google co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, might consider returning to the company.
Microsoft and OpenAI – The First Salvo Started in 2019
What Microsoft shared this week was a road map for integrating OpenAI’s AI-based offerings into Microsoft products. Microsoft invested a billion dollars in OpenAI in 2019, but no one noticed or cared, including Google. That move harks back to the Star Wars movie when the death star allegedly was not completed when it was.
This week, Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI, which values the firm at $29 billion. This graphics-based road map they also released reflects the work that started several years ago. It looks fairly mature which means integration should happen soon.
Google Has Amazing AI But It’s Not Available
There certainly must be some fury in the engineering circles at Google. It is clear that Google’s AI platform could talk to you. However, what they want is to answer a single question and serve your ads. If you haven’t realized, Google always asks you a question when you type in a search term that says did you mean ‘this”.
To me, this clearly shows that Google’s current search platform could be fully conversational if Google turned on all of its AI. The reality is that Google could launch new ChatGPT-like products and give Microsoft the move it has.
Bottom Line: AI Wars Are Here
We are now in a new era where generative content, properly raised by ChatGPT, will now become the new race. Microsoft fired the first salvo for the war for the enterprise by announcing its investment in OpenAI.
It is now Google’s turn to counter and the question is, “How long will it take them to develop?”
Catch Jim LIVE on January 23rd, 2022 with VP of Research, Betsy Burton for a complimentary webinar on the
“Top Ten Technologies for 2023 and Beyond.”
This blog on ChatGPT and the Workplace Revolution is a part of the Digital Workplace blog series by Aragon Research’s CEO,
Jim Lundy.
