Meta’s AI Search Engine to Cut Tech Giant’s Google, Bing Reliance
Meta is developing its own AI-powered search engine, The Verge has reported.The decision to build Meta’s AI search engine is driven by the need to reduce the tech giant’s reliance on Microsoft’s Bing and Google.
Currently, Meta’s AI chatbot relies on Bing to provide users with sports scores, stock information and news updates. Meta appears keen on changing the status quo. Meta’s AI-powered search engine is expected to leverage the AI chatbot to provide users with search summaries.
Search Engine Development
Meta has built its AI bot into its social media platforms – Facebook and Instagram. The company first went public with the AI chatbot in September 2023. At the time, the Facebook owner said the chatbot would use web search results from Microsoft’s Bing to generate responses to user queries. Meta gives a web link to information sources for each search query.
In April 2024, Meta extended its search engine partnerships to Google. Its social media platforms have been using Google and Bing to provide users with responses to queries on recent events and news. But this is about to change as the big tech gets its search engine up and running.
Meta has already made significant progress towards developing its AI search engine. Reports indicate that the tech giant has been building an information database for its chatbot for about eight months now. A few months ago, Meta’s web crawler was seen roving the web. Meta has also put significant effort on setting up its location data that will most likely give Google Maps a run for its money.
Partnering with News Outlets
Meta announced a new partnership with global news outlet Reuters last week. The multi-year deal will allow the tech giant’s chatbots to utilize news content from Reuters to respond to user queries.
Meta’s partnership with Reuters comes years after the social media stepped back from news following a raft of profit-sharing disputes and constant backlash over allegations of misinformation. The deal also comes just months after Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg expressed willingness to build strategic partnerships to boost AI responses.
“My guess is that there are going to be certain partnerships that get made when content is really important and valuable,” Zuckerberg told The Verge.
In the Meta-Reuters deal, the news outlet will provide users with real-time news and get paid for it. Although financial details of the deal were not made public, Meta AI chatbots will provide users with responses that summarize news content and link the content to Reuters.
Meta has not disclosed whether it will use Reuters content to train its large language models. However, Reuters said its role in the partnership is to provide fact-based content to power Meta’s AI systems.
Copyright Infringement Challenge
Increasingly, AI actors are partnering with news outlets to avoid copyright infringement when generating, displaying, and referencing search summaries. Such infringements have resulted in lawsuits with Perplexity being the latest culprit.
On October 21, 2014, New York Publishers sued Perplexity AI for copyright infringement.
Like Meta, AI actors like OpenAI, and Apple are looking to build their own search engines. In September 2024, Bloomberg reported that Apple’s work on search tools in the App Store showed the company has what it takes to set up its own AI-powered search engine.
OpenAI announced that it was working on its search engine dubbed SearchGPT.
Market Reaction
Wall Street appeared to respond positively to Meta’s bold step. This week, Meta’s share price rose by 0.3% while Alphabet stocks dipped by 0.8%. It’s clear that Meta is not taking chances with AI. In 2024 alone, Meta’s stock prices have increased by 67%.
Wall Street estimates show the big tech’s total expenditure could hit the $40 billion mark, with most of its spending going towards AI. Meta’s quarter three earnings also expected to reach $5.21 billion. The company’s total revenue is expected to increase by 18% this year to reach $40.19 billion. Analysts forecast that Meta’s profit could grow by 16% this year.
