OpenAI and Google, in back-to-back announcements last week, unveiled new features focused on how generative AI can be used in daily life. At the same time, announcements from other companies, including Meta and Microsoft, and expected announcements next month from Apple, highlight how the industry is leaning into AI.
The updates released by OpenAI and Google both largely focused on new use cases of their respective generative AI chatbots, ChatGPT and Gemini. Rather than announcing a new, more advanced AI system, both companies showcased updates to their chatbots and how they could be used, as well as tweaks to more advanced audio and visual features.
“Big tech is flexing its muscles,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said. “2023 was exploratory. 2024 is AI going to prime time,” he added.
With the new features and expanded access to ChatGPT, the website is on track to hit a new record of monthly traffic — beating its previous high in May of last year before traffic dipped, according to data from Similarweb.
Still, visits to Google far outrank traffic to ChatGPT’s website. In the last three months, total visits to ChatGPT reached 1.8 billion, versus Google’s 83.5 billion in the same time span, according to Similarweb’s data.
ChatGPT, though, is also backed by a veteran tech industry giant: Microsoft. The Washington-based tech giant invested billions of dollars into OpenAI and has incorporated OpenAI’s generative AI tool into its products, including Bing search.
During an announcement Monday, Microsoft revealed Copilot+, a new category of personal computers that will have AI features already built in.
“We have completely reimagined the entirety of the PC — from silicon to the operating system, the application layer to the cloud — with AI at the center, marking the most significant change to the Window platform in decades,” Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer said in a blog post.
In coming weeks, the Copilot+ PCs will give users access to latest models of AI, including the GPT-4o model released by OpenAI, Microsoft said. GPT-4o was showcased at OpenAI’s demo last week, where the company highlighted its advancements with audio and visual interactions.
“I think Microsoft and [CEO Satya Nadella] are way ahead in this AI arms race. Not just from Microsoft, what they’re doing, but also the OpenAI partnership,” Ives said.
But Ives said Google is “narrowing the gap.”
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
