Leo Gebbie, principal analyst and director for the Americas at CCS Insight, said Google had been expected to wrap AI more tightly into its products.
He said he thought the chatbot would help minimise the number of web pages that users must sift through, while also allowing people to ask more complicated queries.
“For the end user, this should mean less time spent browsing the web itself, and more time spent talking with Google’s AI tools,” he said.
Any updates that Google makes to search are “of critical importance,” added Gebbie, since the search business contributes the vast majority of Google’s revenues.
Google’s attempts to keep up with ChatGPT could fundamentally change the nature of its search engine, which could impact its profits.
“Google is getting more efficient at answering questions, but less efficient at generating clicks – and clicks is how they get paid,” said Cory Johnson, chief market strategist at Epistrophy Capital Research.
The announcements also come as the company fights a court battle in the US over potential changes to its business after a judge ruled it had a monopoly in search.
