As artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to herald the trend in the tech industry, the increasing use of complex chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard for Google search will definitely lead to an increase in energy consumption and costs. According to a recent Morgan Stanley study, if Google handled half of its search queries through these advanced chatbots, it would incur additional costs of about six billion dollars. The cost seems small compared to Google's annual net profit of around $60 billion, but the potential consequences for the environment and the search engine industry are significant and certainly not negligible.
Extensive use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in search engines has paved the way for the development of advanced chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard. Although these chatbots can provide users with more detailed and informative answers to their questions, their use also entails significant costs. The main problem with these language models is their high computational requirements, which results in a significant increase in energy consumption and cost.
According to the study Morgan Stanley if Google handled half of its search queries through these complex chatbots, it would incur additional costs of about six billion dollars. This cost is based on the average length of the response, which is typically 50 words. However, longer responses will require even more computing power, further increasing costs. If the language model produced 100 words instead of 50, the additional cost would be approx twelve billion dollars, Reuters reports.
High computer skills the requirements of these chatbots are due to the fact that they use large language models to generate responses. The models use probability predictions to generate the most likely next word in a sentence. Consequently, the more words a model generates, the more processing power it needs. This means that longer responses are usually twice as computationally intensive as shorter ones.
Although the additional cost of using these chatbots may seem insignificant to the overall profitability of Google, can have serious environmental and financial consequences. Each Google search currently costs the company about 0.2 US cents, a cost the company can easily recoup through advertising. However, the use of chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard, for search queries caused a shift in the search engine industry that could affect Google's advertising revenue.
Moreover, the reliability of these language models is still questionable. Chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard can provide more detailed answers, but they often generate incorrect or irrelevant answers, which can make them unreliable for many users. Currently, the AI operator needs to know the field well and the AI to direct and control. This is one of the reasons why Google is still hesitant to rely heavily on these chatbots for search queries.
While the use of advanced chatbots such as ChatGPT and Bard in search engines can provide users with more detailed and informative answers, their use also comes at a high cost. The energy consumption and computing requirements of these chatbots make them less efficient and reliable compared to traditional search queries. In addition, it can have potential impact on the environment and the search engine industry with significant financial and long-term consequences.
