While Samsung smartphones use the Android platform, linking it with Google, the company also has very close ties with Microsoft. The world's largest smartphone brand in terms of sales has a partnership with Microsoft that puts Office apps on its devices. Now, reports suggest Samsung is ready to make Bing Chat the default search engine on its smartphones.
The AI-based search engine, which is powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 model, aims to provide users with more personalized and relevant search results by generating natural language responses based on their queries. Microsoft's integration of GPT-4 into Bing Chat last month also brought multimodal AI capabilities including Bing Image Creator and recently the ability to search images and videos.
Samsung currently uses Google Search as its default engine. The company is an important partner to Google, which makes the bulk of its revenue from search. Losing Samsung would be a huge blow for Google, while it will strengthen Microsoft's growing position in the market.
According to a report by The New York Times, Google engineers went into a “panic” when they learned about Samsung's potential decision, which would put at risk an estimated $3 billion in annual revenue for the tech giant.
Google Claims it is Now Racing Against Microsoft
Google has been slower in embracing AI than its competitors. Microsoft is already integrating ChatGPT-like AI into its Bing search engine, and is continuing to roll out AI services across its many products. For example, GPT-4 is already available in Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure OpenAI Service, and GitHub Copilot. Google, on the other hand, has been cautious about rolling out more advanced AI, citing ethical and social concerns.
In a recent interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai called AI “the most profound technology humanity is working on”, but insist the company is not interested in racing to develop AI. He says Google prefers a safety first approach and to build AI that influences humanity in a positive way.
Microsoft seems less cautious and willing to mainstream AI and engage in an arms war with Google. Samsung's decision to switch to Bing could be a major blow to Google's search business, as Samsung accounts for over 20% of the global smartphone market.
With the launch of its Galaxy Z Fold phone last year, Samsung struck a deal with Microsoft to put the full Office suite on the smartphone.
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