It’s an interesting time in the world of online search: Microsoft is betting its LLM-powered, intriguing-yet-sometimes-disturbing Bing chatbot will help it level the playing field on which Google currently enjoys around 85% of market share, according to Statista. Meanwhile, Google maintains that its own chatbot, Bard, isn’t a replacement for a search engine.

Against that backdrop, the eyes of the tech world turned to Mountain View on Wednesday for Google I/O, Google’s annual developer conference, hoping to glean intel on its plans for keeping up with the rapid pace of the AI search wars.

The pitch for yet another new era in search, in the form of an AI-powered tool called Search Generative Experience, followed a somewhat different strategy from the one reportedly used to launch Bard: Move fast but not too fast, temper consumer expectations, and emphasize a “responsible” approach.

Keep reading here.—MA

Customer experience software company Zendesk is all-in on generative AI: In 2021, it acquired Cleverly, a Lisbon-based CX automation startup. In April 2023, it announced a partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. And on Wednesday, it unveiled Zendesk AI, an “intelligence layer” using the company’s in-house large language model (LLM), which it claims is trained on the “world’s largest CX-specific dataset.”

Zendesk AI, unveiled at the Zendesk Relate conference in San Francisco, adds capabilities including advanced chatbots, AI-generated content, and tools designed to detect intent and analyze sentiment in conversations. Separately, Zendesk announced a handful of additional tools developed through its partnership with OpenAI, including response rephrasing and tone shifting.

Despite the hefty investment in AI automation, Zendesk isn’t planning on automating service representatives out of a job, Jon Aniano, SVP of product for CRM applications, said.

Instead, he’s confident these new AI tools will make CX teams more valuable to their companies—not replaceable.

Keep reading here.—MA

Despite recent high-profile launch failures from companies including SpaceX, Relativity Space, and Virgin Orbit, the space business is booming.

Rocket Lab, a Long Beach, California-based satellite launch service specializing in delivering satellites to space through its Electron rockets, released its Q1 2023 earnings, offering a window into the satellite launch market.

Keep reading here.—JM

Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me: It’s been posited that current iterations of AI are little more than a waste of time, and Google’s just offered up broader access to a new tool to help you fritter away your one wild and precious life. The company’s generative AI chatbot, Bard, is now widely available in English, The Verge reported.

It costs how much?! Google unveiled its Pixel Fold—which is, as you would expect, a smartphone that folds in half—at its I/O conference this week. It’s got some striking specs, as Wired detailed, but it costs nearly $2,000. But it comes with a free Pixel Watch?

Stat: 23%. That’s how much shares of Big Data firm Palantir shot up this week after it “reported blockbuster demand for its forthcoming artificial intelligence platform,” Morning Brew’s Sam Klebanov wrote.

Quote: “When models are right, people trust them…That’s the challenge with AI. How do you prevent that phenomenon from happening where humans build too much trust?”—Glean CEO Arvind Jain, to WorkLife in a story about AI hallucinations

Read: How Google tried to fix the web by taking it over (The Verge)

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Catch up on the top Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer says she regrets acquiring Tumblr
• The legal battle between Apple and Masimo is about more than trade secrets
• PwC announces $1B investment in generative AI