(original post on Searchblog) How long have I been staring at a blank screen, this accusing white box, struggling to compose the first sentence of a post I know will be difficult to write? About two minutes, actually, but that’s at least ten times longer than ChatGPT takes to compose…

(Original post at Searchblog) Watching the hype cycle build around OpenAI’s ChatGPT, I can’t help but wonder when the first New York Times or Atlantic story comes out calling the top — declaring the whole thing just another busted Silicon Valley fantasy, this year’s version of crypto or the metaverse…

(original post at Searchblog) Today let’s think out loud about TikTok, perhaps the most vexing and fascinating expression of Big Tech power since Google in the early 2000s. I’ve written about TikTok several times, and today’s news, from the Wall Street Journal, raises fresh questions that feel under-appreciated. First, the…

(original post at Searchblog) The Very Hardest Thing What’s the hardest thing you could do as a tech-driven startup? I’ve been asked that question a few times over the years, and my immediate answer is always the same: Trying to beat Google in search. A few have tried — DuckDuckGo…

(original post on Searchblog) Just last week I predicted that Google would leverage ChatGPT to create a conversational interface to its search business, and that Microsoft would do the same in the enterprise data market. I briefly considered that I might have gotten it exactly backwards — Google has a…

(original post on Searchblog) Today I’d like to ponder something Kevin Kelly — a fellow co-founding editor of Wired — said to me roughly 30 years ago. During one editorial conversation or another, Kevin said — and I’m paraphrasing here — “The most creative act a human can engage in…

Pretty, pretty good, actually (Original post at my site here, you can get my newsletter at the top right) I’m planning something different for my annual predictions this year — I’m going to take the balance of this week and write an individual post for each one of my prognostications. Then I’ll write a…

Caveat: This will likely be one of my longish, link-heavy Thinking Out Loud pieces, so I invite you all to pour yourselves a glass of your favorite adult beverage or rustle up a fine cannabis pairing, should you care to indulge… As The Recount prepares for a major launch this…