Griffin says he hopes to see AI-powered search tools shake things up in the industry and spur wider choice for users. But given the accidental trap he sprang on Bing and the way people rely so heavily on web search, he says “there’s also some very real concerns.”
Daniel Griffin, a recent Ph.D. graduate from University of California at Berkeley who studies web search and joined the Discord group in September, said it isn’t uncommon for open source software and small search engine tools to have informal chats for enthusiasts. But Griffin, who has written critically about how Google shapes the public’s interpretations of its products, said he felt “uncomfortable” that the chat was somewhat secretive. The Bard Discord chat may just be a “non-disclosed, massively-scaled and long-lasting focus group or a community of AI enthusiasts, but the power of Google and the importance of open discussion of these new tools gave me pause,” he added, noting that the company’s other community-feedback efforts, like the Google Search Liaison, were more open to the public.