Google needs to beef up AI search to keep Samsung

samsung needs

“Project Magi is all about personalized search,” said Constellation Research founder and analyst R”Ray” Wang, confirming Google News to a TechTarget editorial. "It's by Microsoft starting to go after Samsung's Android business for Google Search."

For its part, Microsoft has been aggressively integrating ChatGPT into its platform and applications, and is seen by many as the dominant force in the generative AI market.

Meanwhile, Samsung's contract with Google is coming to an end. Google reportedly pays Samsung more than $3 billion a year to continue as its search provider. While that's not as much as the company is paying Samsung rival Apple, it could still affect Google's $162 billion search business.

They need companies like Samsung.

"They need companies like Samsung," said Subodha Kumar, a professor of statistics, operations and data science at Temple University's Fox School of Business. If a relatively low-priced customer like Samsung slips away from Google, it could send a strong message to Apple that it should also consider Microsoft's Bing.

The possibility that it could lose Samsung is already weighing on Google. Shares of its parent company Alphabet fell sharply. "New York Times" Development stories for April 17.

Even so, Samsung is unlikely to replace Google as its default search engine, according to Michael Bennett, director of education programs at Northeastern University and head of its responsible artificial intelligence practice.

"The connective tissue built between these two giant companies is not easily replaced," Bennett said. "If Google can provide a strong competitor, this relationship is likely to remain, at least in the near future."

Need a better search tool

However, with the popularity of ChatGPT and the new and improved Microsoft Bing, Samsung now has some leverage to bring to the table - even if Bing doesn't have what it needs.

"Don't think they might necessarily believe that it's going to deliver something better than what Google is doing, but they might use it as a bargaining tool," Kumar said.

Also, while Google is leading the way in AI research and development, aside from its newly released Bard chatbot, the tech giant lacks most of the conversational aspects of search that ChatGPT brings.

Project Magi will help Google bring together all its AI products and capabilities and provide a competing product to effectively challenge ChatGPT, Kumar added.

While it looks like Google is taking a very long time to come up with compelling upgrades to its ubiquitous search feature, vendors are being cautious, Wang said.

"It's about perception," he said. "Microsoft is going on the offensive with AI, which makes it look like Google is dragging their feet, when in fact Google is taking a more cautious approach because AI can go wrong."

However, time is of the essence for Google. Not only does it need to create a better and different AI search platform, but one that reliably delivers relevant and correct results, putting it on par with the still-developed AI that powers ChatGPT and other new chatbots, Kumar said.

"Right now, we're getting a lot of relevant results, but many of them are incorrect," he said, referring to widespread reports that ChatGPT often provides incorrect information and the need to develop more common sense and sound judgment.

"Google does a really good job of delivering search results," Kumar continued. "They've got to build that into their AI. If they can give the right results, consistent results, a better read of the customer's mind, they'll have no problem."

Neither Google nor Samsung responded to requests for comment.

Esther Ajao is a news writer covering artificial intelligence software and systems.