Is there a new Google search engine competitor? ft. Perplexity AI

✨Welcome to the second edition of untechnical✨

And a very special welcome to all the new subscribers who’ve joined over the past week. Together, we’ve grown the untechnical community by a staggering 700% in 7 days! 💖 I am so grateful and excited to have a place in your inbox every week.

For those who are new here, this weekly newsletter is an easy and approachable way for you to incrementally build your knowledge and skills in all things new tech, AI and automation, while also staying up-to-date with a curated summary of the week’s AI/tech news.

This is tech content made for the untechnical.
So let’s get into it!

Tech Tip of the Week: 🍎 ChatGPT vs GPT

This week the OpenAI GPT Store launches. More on that later. But, first, what is a GPT? 📚

For months, I didn't realise there was a difference between ChatGPT and GPT, and used the terms interchangeably. 😅 I didn’t realise they were two very distinct things. So before we dive into this week’s content, let's unpack this key distinction.

In this analogy, I want you to imagine an engine ⚙️ + a car 🚗

Weekly News Digest 🗞

There’s no shortage of news about tech, AI and automation but it’s hard to know what you should tune into. Here, I summarise noteworthy news from the week and why you should care.

1: OpenAI to launch GPT Store this week

What happened? 

• According to OpenAI, the much-anticipated OpenAI GPT Store will be launching this week.

Tell me more: 

• The GPT Store will allow users to sell and share customised AI chatbots (agents), which are powered by OpenAI’s large language models (GPTs).

• If you imagine ChatGPT is the AI chabot of everything, a custom AI chatbot can be trained to perform specific (and narrower) tasks.

• For example, AI chatbots can be created to be anything from a maths tutor to a life coach, a recipe generator to a personal trainer, as long as they meet OpenAI’s usage policies (i.e. no adult or illegal content).

• Originally, the GPT Store was slated for launch in November 2023. But this was likely delayed due to the OpenAI leadership drama, which resulted in CEO, Sam Altman, being fired by the OpenAI board and rehired in the space of 5 days.

Why is this important/interesting? 

• This is massive news. Anyone with a ChatGPT Plus subscription can build their own GPT and no coding is required.

• This creates unparalleled opportunities for non-technical folks to get involved and create GPTs, too. (To prove this, I’m going to give this a go in the coming weeks and will report back!)

• GPTs can be made for personal/private use, internal company use, or for the wider public.

• OpenAI has said it plans to pay GPT creators based on how much their AI agents on the Store are used, but has not shared any other details, yet. I’ll be closely following how this unfolds post-launch.

2: Microsoft makes first change to keyboard in 30 years by adding AI Copilot button

What happened? 

• Over the holiday period, Microsoft began rolling out their new AI tool, Copilot, which I covered in last week’s untechnical newsletter.

• This week, Microsoft has shared they will begin including a new Copilot button on the keyboards of new Windows PCs.

Tell me more: 

• The Copilot key will start rolling out on new Windows machines this year and will be located to the right of the space bar, replacing an existing menu button.

• Upon pressing the key, users will be able to modify computer settings, launch apps and perform other tasks.

Why is this important/interesting? 

• This is the first change to the Windows keyboard in 30 years and the first step in integrating AI tools into Windows hardware.

• The last change was when a Microsoft-branded key debuted on a Windows keyboard in the mid-1990s!

Follow up: OpenAI offers as little as $1million(USD) to license media outlet content

What happened? 

• In last week’s untechnical newsletter, I shared that the New York Times was suing OpenAI and Microsoft over copyright infringement.

• It was alleged OpenAI utilised written content published by the NYT to train their AI technologies (e.g. ChatGPT) without authorisation. This week, there is more to share!

Tell me more:

• It’s been reported that OpenAI has offered some media outlets as little as $1million - $5million (USD) annually to license their news articles and content.

• This high-quality content is needed to train OpenAI’s large language models (e.g. GPTs). But there’s unsurprisingly, competition for this kind of information.

• Apple has also been trying to strike agreements with news outlets and publishers for the use of their content.

Why is this important/interesting? 

• This latest update continues to show the necessity for high-quality data and information needed to train AI models. But should AI companies have to pay for this content and if so, how much?

• The low-ball price OpenAI is willing to pay for vast amounts of top content seems a laughable figure for large media outlets, like the New York Times, to consider.

• This won’t be the last time we hear about this, so I’ll keep you updated!

Tech Tool Spotlight 💡

Here I deep-dive into a new or updated technology tool to show you what’s possible and ways you can apply the tool.

Perplexity AI

Before I start talking about Perplexity, I invite you to keep this figure in the back of your mind: Google currently holds over 90% share of all online search traffic 😵

But this monopoly may be in jeopardy in the future with the advent of AI-powered search solutions emerging onto the scene. This includes the startup, Perplexity AI, which is currently valued at $520 million (USD), after raising $73.6 million from investors such as Nvidia and Amazon.

Unlike Google, which provides you with a list of links, Perplexity gives you actual answers to your search queries. A further differentiator, Perplexity is ad-free and allows you to ‘chat’ with the tool, making it feel more like ChatGPT than a search engine.

Learn more about Perplexity in less than 2.5 mins

Despite Perplexity recording 45 million visits in December 2023, this is still a drop in the ocean when compared to Google’s usual 89.3 billion searches per month.

Nevertheless, I’d still encourage you to give Perplexity a try to see how it compares to Google!

Playground 🪁

Experimenting with new tech, AI and automation is one of the best ways to learn. But it can be hard to know where to start or what to play around with. Here I provide an example of what I’ve been playing around with recently to give you some inspiration.

Perplexity AI

This week I ditched the Google search and gave Perplexity AI a whirl!

I was skeptical going into this as Google has been a part of my daily life for decades, but I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with my Perplexity experience.

Perplexity provides you with actual answers and content, along with its information sources all on one screen. And, you can keep adding to and refining your search through a chat conversation with the tool.

Here’s what happened when I asked Perplexity to tell me the best way to learn French in London:

Feedback 🎯

This newsletter is a two-way street. Learning more about what you’d like to see more/less of and what content is going to support you best is incredibly important.

💬Do you have any feedback that may help improve future editions of untechnical? Any questions? Or content requests? Get in touch by replying to this email.

That’s all for this week! Until next Tuesday…

✨ Thanks for tuning in! ✨