combining search and AI chat is actually the wrong way to go and I think companies are making a big mistake by assuming they satisfy the same needs. Search is about surveying an overview of sources. You look something up, you see a bunch of options, and you come away with some kind of consensus. AI chat is about explaining data in a way that’s easy to understand or, in a lot of cases, having an automation do a data-intensive task for you because you’re busy or inexperienced. Sometimes you want a library and sometimes you want a tutor.
Here’s another good example of how these two things are different: If I’m walking around New York and want to see what’s in my area for restaurants, I want to use search. I want to see a list of restaurants, some basic info, and explore the listings myself. If I’m trying to budget out meals for the week and make them fit a certain nutritional plan, I would want an AI chatbot. In search you also want filtering by attributes. In chat you ask again to get different perspectives.
✉️"Humanity’s digital public square”
Josh Beckman