The search engines are rapidly evolving. Our searching is becoming simpler and better. Keeping up with the changes can be challenging as the landscape is currently filled with a plethora of chatbots and AI assistants including ChatGPT’s new model GPT-4o and Google’s AI Overviews and Search Generative Experience (SGE). Perplexity, You.com and some more new search engines are further diversifying the search space.

The developments are basically creating complexity for marketers even though the platforms are offering new opportunities. SEO professionals need to optimize for traditional as well as AI-driven search engines. It is believed that very soon some new terms like Artificial Intelligence Optimization (AIO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) may emerge to describe these practices.

Chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs). These extract data from various sources and thereafter process the data to provide results. These generate responses based on user queries. It is true that Chatbots are commonly used in specific contexts like customer service websites or e-commerce platforms. These basically address particular tasks.

Significant overlap between LLM-based chatbots and search engines are currently being used and this is causing confusion. ChatGPT launching in late 2022 paved the path of a surge in chatbots and AI assistants. However, generative AI is now allowing users to interact with AI in a conversational manner. Users can ask questions and complete tasks.

The AI tools can assist with SEO tasks, create content, compose emails, write essays and even handle coding. The next stage is that the chatbots are becoming multimodal (MMLLMs). This means that the tools can process text as well as images, audio and several more.

Different AI models and chatbots have unique applications. Below are examples to consider:

• ChatGPT: It is perfect for conversational AI for research, ideation, text, image content and more.
• Google Gemini and Gemma: It uses LLM of Google to connect and find sources within Google.
• Microsoft Bing: It uses ChatGPT for conversational web search in Bing search engine.
• Anthropic Claude: Various AI models for content generation, images and coding.
• Stability AI: It is suite of models for text, image, audio and coding.
• Meta Llama3: It utilizes social graph of Facebook and real-time data from Google.
• Microsoft’s Copilot: It is an AI assistant for business creativity and productivity apps.
• Amazon LLM and Codewhisperer: It enhances customer and employer experiences.
• Perplexity AI: It provides quick answers and sources. It is something like a traditional search engine.