GPT-4 could pop up in Bing, as Google races to build chatbot search products

Microsoft will reportedly integrate OpenAI's upcoming large language model GPT-4 into the Bing search engine over the next few weeks, as Google scrambles to test rival AI products, fearing it could lose its dominant position in online search. 

Text-generation models have evolved from being able to autocomplete text to being able to carry out more general natural language tasks. GPT-4 is expected to be more powerful than its predecessors, ChatGPT and GPT-3, with new capabilities to generate higher quality text and respond to a wider range of input queries.

As the lead investor in OpenAI, Microsoft has bagged the rights to deploy OpenAI's products exclusively. Now, Microsoft reportedly wants to use GPT-4 to power web search and is set to incorporate the new system into Bing over the coming weeks, according to SemaFor.

Meanwhile, Google is stepping up efforts testing large language models rivalling ChatGPT and building new AI search products in a bid to remain competitive. Executives launched a project codenamed "Atlas", and have pulled together engineers and tasked them with developing a similar system. Staff are also reportedly experimenting with a chatbot called "Apprentice Bard" to build a search desktop application based on its LaMDA language model, according to CNBC. 

It's unclear how these types of models are being applied for web search. Although there is some evidence that large language models can recall and extract information from its training data, they tend to get facts wrong. The internet is constantly changing; new websites and pages are updated and added all the time as new knowledge surfaces. Tools like ChatGPT, however, can only operate within the confines of their training data.

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The initial version of GPT-3, for example, was trained on internet text scraped until 2019 and would still say Donald Trump was the US president. Still, Microsoft seems hellbent in trying to revamp Bing and Google doesn't want to fall behind. 

According to a UBS research note published yesterday, ChatGPT had an estimated 100 million monthly users in January, which if correct would make it the fastest growing consumer app ever.

Also on Wednesday, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Plus, a new subscription service providing users faster access to the model for $20 per month. The current ChatGPT version will still be free, but is often inundated with requests and isn't always available to use. ChatGPT Plus will only be available to customers in the United States at first. 

OpenAI is going to release a ChatGPT API for startups and businesses looking to build new AI products based on its capabilities, and is also reportedly developing a ChatGPT mobile app too. ®