OpenAI’s Sam Altman answered questions about challenging Google’s search monopoly and reveals that he would rather completely change the paradigm of how people get information than copy what Google has done for the past twenty years. His remarks were made in the context of a Lex Fridman podcast interview.
What Altman proposed is that the best way to challenge Google is to completely replace its entire business category, including advertising.
1. Is Building OpenAI a Google Search Challenge?
The discussion started with a question from Fridman asking if it is true that OpenAI will challenge Google.
Lex Fridman asked:
“So OpenAI is really going to take on what Google started 20 years ago, which is how we get it…”
Sam Altman responded that the whole idea of building a better search engine limits what the future of information retrieval can be, calling the current conception of search boring.
Altman replied:
“I find it boring. I mean, if the question is can we build a better search engine than Google or whatever, sure, we should go, people should use the best product, but I think that would be understating a lot what this can be Google shows you 10 blue links, well 13 ads and then 10 blue links, and that’s one way to find information.
But what I’m passionate about isn’t that we can create a better copy of Google Search, but that maybe there’s a much better way to help people find, act on, and synthesize information. In fact, I think ChatGPT is that for some use cases, and we hope to make it that way for many more use cases.”
2. The world doesn’t need another Google
Altman expanded on his thoughts by saying that the idea of creating another Google to challenge Google is not interesting. He said the most interesting path forward is to completely change not only how people get information, but to do it in a way that matches how people use information.
Altman continued:
“But I don’t think it’s as interesting to say, ‘How can we do a better job of giving you 10 ranked web pages to look at than what Google does?’
It may be very interesting to say: “How can we help you get the answer or information you need? How do we help create it in some cases, synthesize it in others or indicate it in others?’
But a lot of people have tried to make a better search engine than Google and it’s a hard technical problem, it’s a hard branding problem, it’s a hard ecosystem problem. I don’t think the world needs another Google copy.”
3. AI search is not broken
The part where the conversation seemed to go off the rails is when Fridman steered the discussion towards integrating a chatbot with a search engine, which is already boring and boring. Bing built chat on top of the search experience over a year ago, and there are now at least six AI search engines that integrate a chatbot on top of a traditional search engine.
Fridman’s direction of the discussion threw cold water on what Altman was talking about.
Altman said that no one “has cracked the code yet,” implying that repeating what Bing did was not what Sam Altman had in mind. He called it an “example of something cool.”
Fridman and Altman continued:
“And integrate a chat client, like a ChatGPT, with a search engine-
Sam Altman
As you can guess, we’re interested in how to get it right. That would be an example of something cool.
… The intersection of LLM and search, I don’t think anyone has figured out the code yet. I would love to go do it. I think that would be great.”
4. Ad-supported AI search is dystopian
Altman used the word “dystopian” to characterize a world in which AI search was based on an advertising model. Dystopian means dystopian, which means a dehumanizing existence, lacking in justice and characterized by mistrust.
He noted that ChatGPT as a subscription-based model may be perceived as more reliable than an advertising-based search engine. He came up with the idea of an AI suggesting that users try a specific product and questioning whether the recommendation was influenced by advertising or what was best for the user.
This makes sense because there is a high level of trust associated with AI that does not exist with traditional search. Many consumers do not trust Google search because, rightly or wrongly, it is perceived as influenced by advertising and SEO spam.
Fridman turned the conversation to advertising:
“Lex Friedman
… What about the ad side? Have you ever thought about monetizing-
Sam Altman
I hate ads just as an aesthetic choice. I think ads had to come to the Internet for a bunch of reasons, to get it going, but it’s a momentary industry. The world is richer now.
I like that people pay for ChatGPT and know that the responses they receive are not influenced by advertisers.
I’m sure there’s an ad block that makes sense for LLMs, and I’m sure there’s a way to participate in the transaction flow in an unbiased way that’s fine to do, but it’s also easy to think of dystopian visions of the future where you ask ChatGPT something and it says, “Oh, you should think about buying this product,” or “You should think about going on vacation here,” or whatever.
5. A search experience where the consumer is not the product
Altman then commented that he didn’t like how consumers look at the product when using social media or search engines. What this means is that user interactions are sold to advertisers who then in turn target users based on their interests.
Altman continued:
“And I don’t know, we have a very simple business model and I like it, and I know I’m not the product. I know I’m paying and that’s how the business model works.
And when I use Twitter or Facebook or Google or any other great but great product with advertising, I don’t love that, and I think it gets worse, not better, in an AI world.”
6. Altman is biased against advertising
Sam Altman explicitly said he was biased against search and expressed confidence that there is a path to an AI-based information retrieval system that is cost-effective without having to run advertising. His statement that it was biased against advertising was made in the context of the interviewer bringing up the idea of ditching ads “completely,” which Altman refused to confirm.
“Lex Friedman
… I could imagine that AI would be better at showing the best kind of version of ads, not in a dystopian future, but where ads are for things you actually need. But then does this system always cause ads to generate the kinds of things that are shown?
….I think it was a very bold move by Wikipedia to not do ads, but then it makes it very difficult as a business model. So you’re saying that the current with OpenAI is sustainable, from a business perspective?
Sam Altman
Well, we have to figure out how to grow, but it looks like we’re going to find out.
If the question is do I think we can have a big business paying for our computing needs without ads, … I think the answer is yes.
Lex Friedman
Um Well, that’s promising. I also don’t want to completely throw away ads as a…
Sam Altman
I don’t say that. I guess I’m saying I have a bias against them.”
Is building OpenAI a challenge for Google?
Sam Altman did not directly say that OpenAI was creating a challenge for Google. He hinted that a proper challenge to Google that uses artificial intelligence does not yet exist, saying that no one has “figured out the code” yet.
What Altman offered was an overview of an AI search that didn’t market and sell users to advertisers, and was therefore more reliable and useful. He said a proper challenge for Google would be something completely different from what Google has been doing.
Watch the podcast at 01:17:27 minute:
Featured image by Shutterstock/photosince
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