Artificial intelligence has caused significant disruptions in the tech industry. The release of ChatGPT, AI-powered search, and other AI applications has awed, shocked, and even instilled fear and worries in businesses across various industries. Automating different workflows leads to significant changes impacting how companies conduct business.
Even tech giants that once dominated the internet, like Google, are not spared by these cataclysmic changes. The search leader has recently encountered the most significant challenge in its two-decade existence. After Microsoft rolled out ChatGPT-powered Microsoft Bing, Google is facing a possible substantial blow in its operations and profitability.
To counter the threat Microsoft poses, Google has reportedly started Project Magi, a move expected to significantly boost the capabilities of the world’s leading search engine.
This article is LeapOut’s take on Google’s latest development and how it will affect SEO, paid ads, and other digital marketing activities.
What is Google’s Project Magi?
According to the New York Times, Project Magi is the name of the significant upgrade of Google’s popular search engine. Once the new-generation Google rolls out, which the company targets this May, users can enjoy a better user experience with its AI-powered features to deliver more accurate search results. As of this posting, only the NY Times report is the source of information.
Project Magi will make AI more accessible online | Photo from Freepik
Google Project Magi features
Google searchers can expect a considerable leap in user experience once the Project Magi kick-starts. So far, the article has mentioned two significant features:
AI-powered search
With Project Magi, Google is expected to integrate generative AI in its current search engine, making it a ChatGPT-like interface and functionality. This upgrade lets Google anticipate users’ needs and makes Google more user-friendly while giving more in-depth search results.
In his blog, SEO expert Neil Patel predicted the next-generation Google as a platform where users could interact with a “smarter version of Alexa.” This feature makes the future search experience more intuitive as if you are conversing with a human while accessing Google’s usual search function.
Project Magi will enable faster and more convenient online transactions | Photo from Freepik
Enable transactions
Magi gives Google the power to process e-commerce transactions, allowing for smoother and more intuitive purchases. According to the report, searchers could purchase and book accommodations through this project. This feature enables financial transactions while maintaining profit from their existing Google search ads.
What Prompted Google?
Google hired around 160 engineers to develop the project after it experienced a significant blow with its partnership with Samsung. The search giant discovered that the world’s largest smartphone producer was in talks with Microsoft to use Bing as its default search engine. If Google would not do anything, Samsung’s partnership with Microsoft could cost Google $3 billion in yearly revenue.
Samsung’s decision comes after Microsoft released the new version of Bing, which is powered by ChatGPT. After the impressive launch of this AI chatbot, which currently holds the record as the fastest-growing app in history, Microsoft has taken a solid grasp of the generative AI wars. Just months after ChatGPT’s release, the software giant followed up its success by introducing AI-powered Bing.
Through Magi, Google also attempts to regain its reputation as a severe AI player following the devastating blow it experienced while introducing Bard.
Future AI-Powered Developments by Google
Project Magi was not the first time Google felt a severe existential threat from ChatGPT. Just weeks after OpenAI released the AI app to the public, Google started developing its generative AI version, Google Bard. But the market’s unimpressed response to Google’s lackluster presentation and glitches in the generative AI’s performance during Bard’s launching caused serious concern about Google’s capabilities in the AI field.
However, as a company at the forefront of AI, Google users can expect more developments that aim to revolutionize the internet and other tech industries. The search giant recently fostered its commitment to AI research by launching Google DeepMind. Integrating Google Research’s Brain team and DeepMind, a London-based AI company Google acquired in 2014, would give the tech giant leverage in offering the latest development in many facets of artificial intelligence, not just generative AI.
Some of the future developments in Google’s development pipeline include:
- AI-powered Google Earth’s mapping technology and music search through a conversation with a chatbot
- GIFI image creator that would use AI to create images in Google Image results.
- Tivoli Tutor is an education application that teaches users new languages using open-ended AI text conversations.
- Searchalong allows users to ask questions to a chatbot while surfing the internet using Google Chrome.
Search will become more advanced through Project Magi | Photo from Freepik
How Would Magi Impact Digital Marketing?
Google’s impending upgrade can lead to significant SEO and paid ads disruption. Marketing professionals are still waiting for Google regarding Magi’s impact on its SEO algorithms and paid ad procedure changes.
LeapOut is always looking for developments in Google and other companies that will impact our services. Like other digital marketing experts and influencers, we closely monitor the progress of the latest marketing technologies, especially the platforms and tools we use.
Conclusion
Google focuses on retaining its online AI dominance through the reported Project Magi. By hiring 160 experts to develop a considerable upgrade of its search engine, it attempts to revolutionize search by making it more intelligent and intuitive while allowing transactions to occur. Aside from these additional features, the tech giant has many reported projects underway, including AI-powered mapping, image creation, and language learning apps.
Digital marketing has undergone significant developments that caused changes in the way we do business online. These improvements have also caused substantial adjustments in the visibility and ranking of web pages. So far, marketers still need to figure out how Magi will impact SEO and other aspects of digital marketing.
As a multi-awarded digital marketing company, LeapOut sees to it that we always keep updated on the latest developments in the industry, especially the integration of AI to browsers and search engines to streamline searches and enhance user experience. We will keep you posted on future changes related to search and other digital marketing activities once Google officially launches Magi.
Tony Chua has been in the content writing profession for about a decade, specializing in writing SEO articles, blog posts, and social media copies for various small and medium enterprises and e-commerce sites. Before this, he also authored and edited news, press releases, features, scripts, and editorials for newspapers, magazines, and websites.
Tony is a Web Content Specialist for LeapOut Digital, who has worked for Beko, DMCI, Manulife, and US-based Clark Pawners and Jewelers. Aside from writing, he has experience in desktop publishing, graphic arts, web development, and video editing.
