Google ‘racing’ to build new AI tools for Search, NYT says

The project comes as Google faces strong competition from competitor Bing. — Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Alphabet Inc. is working to build a new search engine and add artificial intelligence features to its existing offerings amid the rapid advancements in the field from competitors like Microsoft’s Corp.’s Bing, the New York Times reported Sunday.

The Mountain View, California-based company and search engine giant is testing the new features under the project name Magi, the Times reported, and the new product would try to anticipate users’ needs. More than 160 people are working on it, with initial plans to release the features to as many as one million people in the US and increase to 30 million by the end of the year.

Planning of the new search engine is still in its early days and there’s no timetable on release, the newspaper said.

The project comes as Google faces strong competition from competitor Bing. Samsung Electronics Co. has considered swapping Google for Bing as the primary search engine on its phones due to its AI features, the Times reported. The contract negotiations are ongoing and no decision has been made.

The features could help write software code, for example, and also display ads. Other features Google has explored include AI image generation and foreign language learning skills.

Large language models and AI are not new to Google. The company has been using LLMs to anticipate the intent of users’ queries, Google’s chief business officer said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in February. AI also increased interactions with ads, he said. – Bloomberg