[Courtesy of IoT Analytics]

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The global information technology (IT) industry has set its eyes on the conversational search services incorporating generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Major portal operators such as Naver Corp. and Google LLC, as well as telecom companies, smartphone manufacturers, and startups, are focusing on AI search as a powerful feature to attract users.

According to multiple sources from the IT industry on Sunday, Naver is preparing the next version of its AI search service Cue:, which has been integrated into its search portal since September 2023. It plans to enhance the service from the current text-based Q&A structure on the PC version to a multimodal form that includes image search in mobile environments.

Although the release date of the next version is not yet fixed, Naver aims to launch the service as early as the third quarter of 2024 and is also considering integrating voice and video search into Cue: in the mid-term.

“The mobile version will be similar to the current PC version where Cue: results are exposed at the top of integrated search results,” an official from Naver said.

“But with the inclusion of multimodal capabilities, we are reviewing various approaches to revamp the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) to develop a more user-friendly service.”

The official noted that positive feedback on Cue: increased by 14.7 percent in March compared to January 2024.

“We will further strengthen Cue: business strategies by linking it with shopping and local search services,” the official added.

SK telecom Co.’s recent investment of $10 million in the U.S. unicorn company, Perplexity, and its business collaboration indicate a strategy to gain a foothold in the generative AI search engine market. Perplexity, a startup operating a conversational AI search service, was ranked first in the Chatbot Usability Evaluation by the Wall Street Journal in May 2024.

Apple Inc., which manufactures the iPhone, announced at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2024 that it would integrate ChatGPT into its voice assistant, Siri, via a partnership with OpenAI. The company is also reportedly considering collaborations with Google’s multimodal AI, Gemini, to make Siri a smarter conversational AI assistant.

Microsoft released a beta version of the generative AI search Copilot that can be used on the anonymous messaging app, Telegram, in June. This allows users to search by conversing with an AI chatbot within Telegram without opening the Bing search engine.

“The common denominator is that various attempts are being made to enhance user convenience, such as linking web and mobile versions to social services or integrating them with devices,” an industry official said.

This trend is driven by users who are no longer sticking exclusively to portal services and using YouTube, Instagram, ChatGPT, and other platforms for search if they find them convenient. The industry is consequently seeing AI search play a significant role in increasing user engagement time.

According to Gartner, the use of traditional search engines is expected to decrease by 25 percent by 2026 as AI chatbots partly place search functions. Gartner Vice President Alan Antin noted that generative AI solutions are replacing search engines and that as the use of traditional search engines decreases, companies will need to rethink their marketing channel strategies.

But for the AI search era to fully take off, there is a prevailing opinion that the hallucination phenomenon, whereby AI provides incorrect answers, needs to be resolved.

Google, the world’s largest search engine, launched its new search service, AI Overview, incorporating its AI model Gemini, in the United States in June 2024 but is currently facing challenges due to recurring errors.