Artificial Intelligence · 10 February 2023

The new iPhone moment

AI search engines from Microsoft, Google and OpenAI are ushering in a new era of web use. I tested Bing with early access – and was surprised.

AI search from companies like Microsoft, Google and OpenAI will completely change the way we navigate the internet. This week Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveiled an AI-enhanced version of Bing. I was there in person and have spent several days testing the new features with early access. They are impressive.

This technological leap reminds me of the iPhone. Like the iPhone, Microsoft is not the first company to present an AI chatbot. But this time it is not built for specialists – it is built for a mass audience.

Unlike with Apple, I am not certain that Microsoft will end up being the dominant player in the field. Google is strong too, even if it is still struggling to find its footing. What is clear to me: AI based on large language models will change our world. I wrote the full argument for Handelsblatt.

Published in Handelsblatt

February 10, 2023 ·Comment

The new iPhone moment – finally a real technology revolution again

Companies like OpenAI and Microsoft are pointing the way to a new information age. We are living through a new iPhone moment.

By Stephan Scheuer

Machine translation. The verbatim German original is on handelsblatt.com (link below).

Nothing less than the dawn of a new internet age was what Satya Nadella announced at Microsoft headquarters on Tuesday. Yes, CEOs tend to exaggerate at product launches. In this case, however, the improved systems based on artificial intelligence may genuinely be ushering in a new information age. We are experiencing the next iPhone moment.

As with the iPhone, the underlying technology is not new. Smartphones existed before Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in 2007. What was revolutionary then: Jobs made the Apple handset, with its new technology, accessible to millions of consumers – and truly usable in everyday life.

The same is happening now with artificial intelligence. Start-up OpenAI has launched a language model, ChatGPT, that can write poems, sketch business models or produce computer programs from simple prompts. Microsoft is now bringing that technology to millions of customers through its search engine Bing.

It is a welcome development. Billions spent on digital delivery services or on e-scooters that were barely used afterwards have not moved society forward much. With the new AI systems, that looks different.

It is not yet clear whether Microsoft will remain the dominant company in this area. Google is the company that developed the technical foundations on which OpenAI and Microsoft are now building. With the chatbot Bard, Google has also announced a comparable system – as has Chinese technology company Baidu.