Conversational AI: Revolutionizing search and transforming our mental models

OpenAI has been at the forefront of the AI industry with its recent releases of ChatGPT APIs, GPT-4, and ChatGPT plugins. The latest release of ChatGPT plugins has the potential to transform our mental models of search and content, as we shift towards conversational AI that provides real-time, personalized answers. The ability of OpenAI to learn based on a company's domain and provide a service that answers queries has the potential to shift the whole web as we know it and accelerate the startup ecosystem.

The release of ChatGPT plugins by OpenAI represents a significant milestone in the development of conversational AI, which is transforming the way we interact with technology. Conversational AI is enabling us to engage in a natural, human-like conversation with machines, leading to a shift in our mental models from search to conversation. Unlike traditional search engines, which require us to formulate specific queries to obtain information, conversational AI allows us to ask open-ended questions in a more natural way, leading to a more personalized and engaging experience.

Galit Galperin.

Imagine you want to travel with your family for a summer vacation. How much time would you spend on it? With OpenAI's ChatGPT plugins, companies like Expedia for example, can give you a very detailed trip plan just by asking them to do so. No research, no more SEO links with garbage content.

Conversational AI is not limited to virtual assistants and chatbots. It has the potential to revolutionize the whole way we search for information just by understanding the intent behind our queries and can be implemented in almost every use case you can think of when interacting with technology, also in the physical world.

The shift towards conversational AI has significant implications also for startups building products today and for our relationships with products in general. It is becoming easier to develop conversational AI tools without the need to build an ML infrastructure, resulting in significant cost savings and a very fast go-to-market. OpenAI's ChatGPT plugins integrate with popular platforms such as Kayak, OpenTable, and many others, providing a programming model that allows developers to create their own plugins. This resembles the “Appstore” moment when Apple launched the iPhone. Suddenly everything is changing, the barriers to entering this market are much lower and the disruption is happening right now in front of us.

In the near future, conversational AI has the potential to transform various aspects of our lives, from healthcare to education to entertainment. For example, conversational AI can help healthcare providers diagnose and treat patients more effectively by providing personalized recommendations based on the patient's medical history and symptoms, combined with data trends from the hospital or medical domain itself. it will allow doctors to speak with it, consult and get a clearer view of the disease, treatment, and so on.

Another interesting use case is in the financial industry, conversational AI can help improve customer experiences by providing personalized financial advice and support. For example, a customer can ask a conversational agent questions about their investment portfolio, receive real-time updates on their account balances, and even make transactions without leaving the conversation. Conversational AI can also help financial institutions detect fraud and prevent money laundering by analyzing large amounts of data in real-time, allowing their employers to identify these kinds of threats quickly.

As we continue to shift towards conversational AI, there are several challenges that need to be addressed. One of the main challenges is ensuring that conversational AI is ethical and unbiased. Conversational AI is only as good as the data it is trained on, and if the data is biased, the AI will also be biased. This can have serious implications for marginalized communities and perpetuate existing social inequalities.

Another challenge is ensuring that conversational AI is secure and protected from malicious attacks. Conversational AI can collect sensitive information such as personal data and financial information, making it a potential target for cybercriminals. Therefore, it is important to implement robust security measures and ensure that data is encrypted and protected at all times.

On the product level in order to support this mental model shift - of getting immediate answers from technology just by speaking - we must make sure we can augment and embed this technology in our data without hallucinations, providing the best accurate result, and answering the job to be done accurately.

In conclusion, the shift towards conversational AI represents a significant milestone in the development of AI technology. It has the potential to transform our mental models from search to conversation and revolutionize the way we interact with products and services.

Conversational AI can provide personalized and seamless experiences, improving customer experiences, education, healthcare, and more and more industries. However, it is important to address the challenges of ensuring that conversational AI is ethical, unbiased, and secure.

As we continue to advance in the field of AI, the possibilities of conversational AI are endless, and it is an exciting time to be at the forefront of this technological revolution.

Galit Galperin is a product AI consultant, HCI lecturer, and the creator of singulariot.co.il AI podcast