Google CEO Sundar Pichai says its ChatGPT rival coming soon as a ‘companion’ to search

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai

Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said Google will make artificial intelligence-based large language models like LaMDA available “in the coming weeks and months.”

Users will soon be able to use language models “as a companion to search,” Pichai said on a conference call following the internet search giant’s fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday.

“We are just at the beginning of our AI journey, and the best is yet to come,” he said.

Google rival Microsoft Corp. has drawn attention by outlining plans to add artificial intelligence capabilities from startup OpenAI, including the ChatGPT content generator, to its products including the Bing search engine. Microsoft’s moves to incorporate AI have led to speculation that it could pose a meaningful challenge to Google’s dominance in search.