Protesting its slow death to the bitter end, Bing launched its AI-assisted search engine in 2023, hoping to carve out a use case against Google. In 2024, Google hit back, integrating Gemini into its search function. Arguably, Gemini is now the front page of the internet. Much of the time now when I shoot out a google query, Gemini’s answer pops up at the top. In fact, if I want to find an answer written by a human, I have to scroll down. Gemini’s answer occupies my entire screen. I have an incling about what is motivating this choice architecture: for now, there is no ad placement, but surely soon there will be. For now, attention is being directed away from websites that host their own ads, and towards the Google's own Gemini box. This is a little concerning - Nora Lindemann (https://tinyurl.com/chatbotsearch) writes on chatbots as search engines, introducing the term "sealed knowledges": she is getting at how a question can have a plurality of answers that all are meaningful, something that a chatbot doesn't convey when it gives a short, structured answer written in a hyper plausible tone. There are questions with simple answers, and there are those that warrant struggle and rumination. Well-packaged chatbot answers make me less likely to accidentally learn things as I try to answer my non-linear question. I wonder, will websites lose revenue? Do chat-bot search engines help or hinder learning? Mediated by chatbots, will we relate to information more objectively?
Protesting its slow death to the bitter end, Bing launched its AI-assisted search engine in 2023, hoping to carve out a use case against Google. In 2024, Google hit back, integrating Gemini into its search function. Arguably, Gemini is now the front page of the internet. Much of the time now when I shoot out a google query, Gemini’s answer pops up at the top. In fact, if I want to find an answer written by a human, I have to scroll down. Gemini’s answer occupies my entire screen. I have an incling about what is motivating this choice architecture: for now, there is no ad placement, but surely soon there will be. For now, attention is being directed away from websites that host their own ads, and towards the Google's own Gemini box. This is a little concerning - Nora Lindemann (https://tinyurl.com/chatbotsearch) writes on chatbots as search engines, introducing the term "sealed knowledges": she is getting at how a question can have a plurality of answers that all are meaningful, something that a chatbot doesn't convey when it gives a short, structured answer written in a hyper plausible tone. There are questions with simple answers, and there are those that warrant struggle and rumination. Well-packaged chatbot answers make me less likely to accidentally learn things as I try to answer my non-linear question. I wonder, will websites lose revenue? Do chat-bot search engines help or hinder learning? Mediated by chatbots, will we relate to information more objectively?