AI Chatbots Vs Search Engines: What Is the Difference

Search engines have been doing a stupendous job in fetching the information one needs. Then came chatbots which can answer most of the queries posed. Are they one and same, or similar technologies or differ in a certain significant way? ChatGPT, the new kid on the block has almost obliterated these questions but as the chatbot market is only going to grow, these questions become more striking. Will Chatbots Vs search engines battle last or is it dead-ending?

Search engines, when posed with a question provide a wide range of answers. For a person who is looking for different angles of an issue, this would be of immense help. What if one needs specific answer to a question? Chatbots are the ones you need. Technically speaking, the range of memory is the major difference between them. While chatbots hold data for a long period of time, search engines have short-term memory. This explains why chatbot replies are more personalized and specific. Chatbots analyze the question based on the entire historic data pertaining to the question while the search engine looks for only the previous searches. Search engines, which traditionally use crawlers, of late has got advanced providing more relatable and context-specific suggestions. On the other hand, chatbots which depend on AI neural networks, NLP, audio, video and media processing to interact with users.

They are way different from each other yet have complementary functions, ie., they can work together. Chatbots are function specific while search engines have a wide range of indexed information. Therefore, when clubbed together, they provide a better information circulation environment to address customers' needs quickly and efficiently. Everyday examples of this integrated technology include home automation, smart cars, and IoT.