Commentary: Google just turned 25 but will it survive AI?
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WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
MELBOURNE: Monday (Sep 4) marked an important milestone in the history of the Internet: Googles 25th birthday. With billions of search queries submitted each day, its difficult to remember how we ever lived without the search engine.
What was it about Google that led it to revolutionise information access? And will artificial intelligence (AI) make it obsolete, or enhance it?
Lets look at how our access to information has changed through the decades - and where it might lead as advanced AI and Google Search become increasingly entwined.
1950S: PUBLIC LIBRARIES AS COMMUNITY HUBS
In the years following the second world war, it became generally accepted that a successful post-war city was one that could provide civic capabilities - and that included open access to information.
So in the 1950s, information in Western countries was primarily provided by local libraries. Librarians themselves were a kind of human search engine. They answered phone queries from businesses and responded to letters - helping people find information quickly and accurately.
