Competition between Microsoft and Google Could Accelerate Artificial Intelligence Advancement

Two of the most valuable companies in artificial intelligence (AI) have received significant investments from Microsoft and Google in recent times.

OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, has received a whopping $10bn (£7.8bn) investment from Microsoft, while Google has invested $300m in Anthropic.

Companies’ financial support for artificial intelligence has made the constant competition public. Google’s battle for dominance with Microsoft is increasingly at the forefront of discussions about the future success of artificial intelligence.

Google has made huge contributions to the development of artificial intelligence, including the invention of transformers – a special form of machine learning in which an algorithm gets better at tasks when it is “trained” on data – to the development of automation techniques for language translation. and the acquisition of artificial intelligence company DeepMind.

While Google has consistently positioned itself at the forefront of AI development, the introduction of ChatGPT marked a major milestone.

California-based OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, and a more advanced version, GPT-4, was announced in February 2023.

The arrival of ChatGPT sparked widespread debate about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), where machines surpass human intelligence.

This was also the focus of warnings from Geoffrey Hinton, an influential figure in artificial intelligence. He gave several interviews to outline his concerns about technology after leaving Google earlier this year.

As a result, the number of studies focusing on large-scale language models (LLM) – the artificial intelligence technology underlying ChatGPT – increased. Other research areas of artificial intelligence, such as dialog systems and information retrieval, will be left behind.

In the midst of this rapid technological disruption, it seems that Google is afraid of losing its technological edge and market position.

Contradictory position?

This concern is not unwarranted. Produced by a direct competitor, ChatGPT has leveraged Google’s pioneering Internet search technology to generate significant profit.

In addition, the flow of talent from Google to OpenAI – along with the rapid growth of the latter – has become a worrying trend for the search giant.

When OpenAI was founded, one of its principles was to make software “open source,” where software is publicly available, allowing developers to share and modify it. Google, meanwhile, has maintained a relatively consistent commercial approach to its plans and goals.

However, OpenAI’s recent move towards commercialism and closed source practices seems to be at odds with its original corporate philosophy.

Some industry insiders have criticized OpenAI for its somewhat contradictory stance.

While it touts itself as a champion of open source AI, it’s undeniably a commercial entity, which it doesn’t readily admit.

This tension between OpenAI’s public image and business realities has made the competition with Google all the more intriguing.

One likely outcome of this competition is the continued development and refinement of AI technology, fueled by the need to stay ahead of the market.

Google’s technologies, once exploited by OpenAI for commercial gain, are likely to be further innovated.

This development not only improves the functionality of AI applications, but also greatly improves the user experience.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s executive vice president, recently announced that the company did not see the need to overhaul the search landscape, as even a one-point increase in market share meant a $2 billion increase in value.

This strategic narrowing of their goals could be an attempt to reduce competitive pressures in the technology industry.

Stronger control

It’s worth noting that Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI adds another layer to this complex competition. Google has also shown a willingness to invest in external AI projects to expand its influence.

For example, the company’s investment in Anthropic I, an artificial intelligence research company, reflects Google’s strategy to maintain its technological leadership through strategic partnerships.

One concern that concerns many people, myself included, is the potential for misinformation, disinformation and distortions created by ChatGPT. With over 200 million users, it serves about 2.53 percent of the world’s population.

Widespread disinformation on social media has significantly undermined trust in online content and reportedly influenced the 2016 US presidential election.

ChatGPT’s large user base makes it possible for tech companies to manipulate conversations and influence users’ preferences and decisions in a variety of ways.

Therefore, the need for stronger control and regulation of these large language models is increasingly urgent.

Despite the growing competition in artificial intelligence, Google is still a respected entity in the global technology industry.

The AI race between Google and Microsoft has both companies pushing the boundaries of this technology, promising exciting advancements in the coming years.

The different strategies used in this competition, from talent acquisition to strategic investments, reflect the importance of stakes in the AI world.

In particular, acquiring top talent will allow these companies to develop their AI capabilities and give them a competitive edge.

Strategic investments, in turn, enable diversification and expansion into new AI applications and sectors, increasing their influence and market share in the AI industry.

These actions highlight the great value and potential of AI technology in shaping our future.