For tech giants, AI like Bing and Bard poses billion-dollar search problem

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Reuters) - As Alphabet Inc looks past a chatbot flub that helped erase $100 billion from its market value, another challenge is emerging from its efforts to add generative artificial intelligence to its popular Google Search: the cost.

Executives across the technology sector are talking about how to operate AI like ChatGPT while accounting for the high expense. The wildly popular chatbot from OpenAI, which can draft prose and answer search queries, has "eye-watering" computing costs of a couple or more cents per conversation, the startup's Chief Executive Sam Altman has said on Twitter.