Introduction to AI-Powered Search
Google co-founder Sergey Brin says AI is transforming search from a process of retrieving links to one of synthesizing answers by analyzing thousands of results and conducting follow-up research. He explains that this shift enables AI to perform research tasks that would take a human days or weeks, changing how people interact with information online.
Machine Learning Models Are Converging
For those who are interested in how search works, another interesting insight he shared was that algorithms are converging into a single model. In the past, Googlers have described a search engine as multiple engines, multiple algorithms, thousands of little machines working together on different parts of search. What Brin shared is that machine learning algorithms are converging into models that can do it all, where the learnings from specialist models are integrated into the more general model.
How Convergence Works
Brin explained that things have been more converging, and this is sort of broadly through across machine learning. He noted that you used to have all kinds of different kinds of models, but now it’s shifted to Transformers basically, and increasingly, it’s also just becoming one model.
Google Integrates Specialized Model Learnings Into General Models
His answer continued, shifting to explaining how it’s the usual thing that Google does, integrating learnings from specialized models into more general ones. Brin continued his answer, saying that they do get a lot of oomph occasionally, and they do specialized models, which is scientifically a good way to iterate when you have a particular target. However, they are generally able to take those learnings and put that capability into a general model after they’ve done that.
Future Interfaces: Multimodal Interaction
Google has recently filed multiple patents around a new kind of visual and audio interface where Google’s AI can take what a user is seeing as input and provide answers about it. Brin admitted that their first attempt at doing that with Google Glasses was premature, and the technology for supporting that wasn’t mature. He says that they’ve made progress with that kind of searching, but they’re still working on battery life.
Overcoming Technical Challenges
Brin shared that he kind of messed up the timing of Google Glass and that the technology wasn’t ready. However, he thinks that nowadays, these things are more sensible, and there’s still battery life issues that they and others need to overcome.
Predicting The Future Of AI Is Difficult
Sergey Brin declined to predict what the future will be like because technology is moving so fast. He explained that when you say 10 years, a lot of people are saying the singularity is like, right, five years away, so your ability to see through that into the future is very hard.
Improved Response Time and Voice Input Are Changing Habits
He agreed with the interviewers that improved response time to voice input are changing user habits, making real-time verbal interaction more viable. However, he also said that voice mode isn’t always the best way to interface with AI and used the example of a person talking to a computer at work as a socially awkward application of voice input.
The Limitations of Voice Input
He shared that everything is getting better and faster, and for smaller models, they’re more capable. He usually uses voice mode on the drive, but during work, he can’t really use voice mode too much because he would get the output in his headphones, but if he wants to speak to it, then everybody’s listening to him.
AI Deep Research Can Synthesize Top 1,000 Search Results
Brin explained how AI’s ability to conduct deep research, such as analyzing massive amounts of search results and conducting follow-up research, changes what it means to do search. He described a shift in search that changes the fundamental nature of search from retrieval to generating insights from the data.
The Power of AI Research
Brin said that the exciting thing about AI is that it can do things in volume that he cannot. He thinks of the superpower as when it can do things that would take him a week of work, like sucking down the top thousand results and then doing follow-on searches for each of those and reading them deeply.
AI With Advertising
Sergey Brin expressed enthusiasm for advertising within the context of the free tier of AI, but his answer skipped over that, giving the indication that this wasn’t something they were planning for. He instead promoted the concept of providing a previous generation model for free while reserving the latest generation model for the paid tiers.
The Future of AI Advertising
Sergey explained that they’re likely going to have top models that they can’t supply infinitely to everyone right off the bat, but as they go to the next generation, the new free tier is usually as good as the previous pro tier and sometimes better.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Sergey Brin’s insights into the future of search and AI are fascinating and provide a glimpse into how technology is changing the way we interact with information online. With the convergence of machine learning models, the integration of specialized model learnings into general models, and the development of new interfaces, the future of search is likely to be vastly different from what we experience today. As AI continues to evolve, it will be exciting to see how it transforms the way we access and interact with information.