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Google or Microsoft? It's driving us insane.

The Status Man tells the truth about Google. The answer is surprising.

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Barun Sharma & Barun Pandey
February 10, 2023

GM! Welcome to the Status Code. We’re like Sherpas in the mountains - getting you to the top of things.

Here’s what we have for today:

  1. 👑 Google vs Microsoft: Is the Conqueror back?

  2. 🕵️‍♂️Quora is back!

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👑 Google vs Microsoft: Is the Conqueror back?

It was an action-packed week for AI. Tons of products, tons of new models.

But at the core of it was the battle between the two old foes. Google vs Microsoft.

Except for this time, Microsoft is playing David. And Google is playing Goliath.

The stakes? The throne of the Search empire (and the $100 billion annual revenue that comes with it).

If you’re not up to date, here’s how the story plays:

  • OpenAI launches ChatGPT, and the entire world goes berserk. The chatbot gets 100M users in two months.

  • Google announces “CodeRed” and put all resources into building its AI.

  • Microsoft announces that Bing is going to integrate ChatGPT into its platform. Nadella says it's the start of a new dawn in the Search race.

So, let’s get back to the business.

Why is Google worried?

Well, for one, Search is Google’s bread and butter. Most of its ~60 billion profit comes from its Search business, and it wants to protect its bottom line.

Besides, it’s also the first time someone is battling Google in a new battlefield.

Microsoft is no longer trying to compete to get users away from the traditional search. Instead, it's introducing a new way for people to access the same information. One which can put a major dent in Google’s market share (it’s almost 85% right now).

And Satya says he's willing to accept a "decrease in margins" of the Search business. No wonder red alarms are ringing in Google's HQ. David is after their crown jewel.

How is Microsoft doing it? Through the combination of a nimble AI startup in OpenAI and its own deep financial pockets.

So, even though Google may feel it's the leader in the AI space, the perception has changed. People no longer think of Google as a leader of innovation in AI.

Instead, it’s OpenAI.

The company has had quite a few hits in recent years. Both Dall-E and GPT-3 were huge successes. And rumours are that GPT-4, its new language model, will change the scene forever.

And to make things worse, Google made a huge blunder at their AI event this week. Their chatbot made factual errors in the demo.

With that, $100 billion… POOF! Talk about a rescue plan going wrong.

But what are Google’s plans? Are they just flapping their wings like an injured bird?

Well, they have a few things in place to build momentum and gain investor trust.

The Announcement of Bard - their new AI search bot

Google says Bard can tap into external sources and answer users’ queries. ChatGPT only offers content based on data up to a point in the past.

Anthropic AI

Google announced its investment in OpenAI's rival Anthropic last week. Anthropic has developed Claude, a rival to ChatGPT.

Deepmind’s Sparrow

Deepmind is ramping up plans to release ‘Sparrow’ to counter ChatGPT. Its CEO said the bot could cite sources for its responses.

Anyway, Microsoft has made Google Panic.

And as David does to Goliath, it's inviting Google to play a different game. One which Goliath is not yet comfortable with.

So, maybe, when Ballmer said: "Everything is possible; we have nothing to lose", he was 15 years too early.

Now everything's possible.

And Microsoft has nothing to lose.

🕵️‍♂️ Quora is back

Back in 2014, I wanted to read some mind-blowing books. Where did I ask?

Quora! (Kids these days are lucky they have ChatGPT)

The answers? Well. They were okay, but I read them anyway.

But today, Quora’s glory days seem to be in the past. It’s a story I can tell to my kids.

The Status Man in 2050: “So kids, there was this site called Quora. And real people pressed keyboards to answer questions there.”

Anyways, Reddit has taken away the “real people” out from Quora. And ChatGPT will likely take the rest.

So, Quora has a different plan. No big company is holding back when it comes to AI. Just like me and cupcakes, can’t leave any of them!

It announced Poe.

Poe is unlike both ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. It is a platform for Chatbots.

Right now, it is hosting models from OpenAI and Anthropic. But founder Adam D’Angelo says they will integrate more models in the future.

Why Poe?

Quora's goal is to create a common interface for people as more companies start building their chatbots.

🦾What happened this week?

  • Runway released an AI model which can add images, and text to edit your video

  • This AI got banned for making LGBTQ jokes

  • ChatGPT won’t say racial slurs even to deactivate an atomic bomb

  • Try this app which makes travel itineraries for you

  • AI could save time in diagnosis and response in the hospital

  • Magic, the AI that can edit code from the repository, raised $23 million

  • Here’s how people are jailbreaking ChatGPT

  • Try premade prompts in Bing here

  • Prepping for Valentine’s day and love AI? See this guide

  • Time for a new profile picture? Try this!

  • This tool lets you find human creators behind AI-generated images.

🐤Tweet of the week

Humans are an API to ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is an API to Python.
Python is an API to C.
C is an API to assembly.
Assembly is an API to binary.
Binary is an API to physics.
Physics is an API to the machine that runs the universe.

It's computation all the way down.

— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman)
Feb 5, 2023

😂 Meme of the week

That’s it for this week, folks! See you next week!

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