AI Technology is Transforming the Search Industry: Current Status and Future Prospects of Intelligent Search
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Since the latest wave of breakthroughs in large model technology, domestic and international companies have been intensifying their efforts in various scenario-based AI applications. Search products, which cater to users' active retrieval needs, have become the ideal testing ground for intelligent technologies.
On January 19th, leveraging its self-developed large model capabilities, the Quark APP underwent a comprehensive upgrade of multiple functional modules and intelligent tools. It launched the search Q&A product "Yuanzhi," released the Quark PC version, and introduced new products like Quark Listen & Note. Centered around the positioning of an intelligent assistant, Quark will provide users with a service matrix of "content products + intelligent tools," creating an integrated AI information service experience across three platforms.
Additionally, the latest report shows that Google's AI-powered search engine, Gen-AI, now handles 84% of search queries, ushering the landscape of search engine optimization (SEO) into a new era. BrightEdge, a company specializing in the SEO market, has been tracking the results of the Gen-AI search engine since last autumn, covering over 1,000 keywords across nine industries, including healthcare, e-commerce, and business-to-business technology.
Intelligent search represents a new generation of search engines that integrate AI technology. Beyond offering traditional features like fast retrieval and relevance ranking, it also provides functionalities such as user role registration, automatic identification of user interests, semantic understanding of content, and intelligent information filtering and推送.
The rapid development of AI technology will further enhance various search technologies in the field of search engines, thereby bringing search back to its essence—meeting users' needs to quickly find the information they require. This endeavor is bound to bring transformative changes to the market landscape of the search engine industry. As an inevitable trend, major search engine brands must identify more suitable entry points to achieve overtaking in this competitive race. In the internet era, the importance of content is self-evident. However, as user demands continue to evolve, intelligent tools are gradually becoming a new way for users to discover and create high-quality content.
Data shows that traditional text searches remain the dominant method, accounting for over 90% of searches. Image searches have gained nearly 50% usage on both PC and mobile platforms, indicating that users are gradually adapting to this new method. Notably, due to the convenience of voice input on mobile devices, voice searches account for nearly 50% of mobile searches. Scenario data also reveals that mobile devices excel in fragmented and interactive contexts, where users focus more on instant news and information. For professional information queries, users tend to rely more on PC searches.
According to the "2023 Young Generation Intelligent Efficiency Application Research" report released by QuestMobile, the Quark APP has the highest user share among students and young professionals, with the longest usage time in the industry. After continuous iterations and upgrades, the new Quark APP is poised to accelerate its role as an intelligent assistant for young people in work, study, and daily life.
Analysis of the Current State and Future Prospects of Intelligent Search
AI technology is transforming the search industry, shifting search results from "vague" to "precise." With advancements in artificial intelligence, intelligent search has achieved significant progress in areas like natural language processing and machine learning. In the future, the technological foundation of intelligent search will continue to strengthen, including more accurate semantic understanding, more efficient indexing and retrieval techniques, and more robust knowledge graph construction. On January 19, Microsoft's search engine Bing saw a noticeable increase in user engagement and usage after integrating generative AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E 3. According to data analytics firm StatCounter, by the end of 2023, Microsoft's search engine accounted for only 3.4% of the global search market, an increase of less than 1 percentage point compared to before the integration of ChatGPT.
Bloomberg cited mobile app data showing that in the second quarter of 2023, Bing's monthly active users in the U.S. reached 3.1 million, more than doubling year-over-year. Additionally, the time U.S. users spent on Bing increased by 84%. By the end of 2023, Bing's monthly active users in the U.S. had steadily grown to 4.4 million.
To consolidate this momentum, Microsoft has been adding more AI tools to Bing. In October, the company integrated OpenAI's latest image-generation model, DALL-E 3.
China's search engine industry has developed rapidly, with increasingly mature features and technology, and the market competition landscape has stabilized. Currently, major search engine providers in China include Baidu, Sogou Search, Haosou, and Shenma Search, as well as international providers like Google (Hong Kong) and Bing. Among them, Baidu has taken an absolute leading position in the industry after Google's complete withdrawal from the Chinese market.
Today, intelligent search is becoming a critical tool for enterprise digital transformation. More and more companies are recognizing the value of intelligent search in improving efficiency and optimizing user experience, leading to increased investment in this field. At the same time, as intelligent search technology becomes more widespread, its commercialization models will continue to innovate and improve. With the advancement of the internet, search modes have gradually evolved from text-based queries to an AI-driven era that includes images, audio, and video. Brands need to keep pace with this trend and progressively implement intelligent search methods. The improvement of voice recognition technology and the widespread adoption of smart devices will further enhance the intelligence of search functionalities. In this process, brands must explore new search marketing models to meet users' ever-changing search demands.
In the fiercely competitive market, the ability of enterprises and investors to make timely and effective market decisions is crucial for success. Reports that accurately identify unmet market demands and trends can effectively mitigate industry investment risks, more efficiently consolidate or expand strategic target markets, and firmly grasp the initiative in industry competition.