Chopping's El Toco aims to make web search efficient and precise, using machine learning to classify and label pages for better filtering. He expresses skepticism about the rush to deploy chat assistance and the willingness of people to pay for AI search help. Chopping believes that the barriers to entry for search are lower than people think and predicts more competition for Google in the future. He also sees an opportunity in vertical markets that Google doesn't serve well and aims for quality over quantity in search results.
Key takeaways:
- Google and Microsoft are betting on generative AI to improve search, despite the risk of misinformation.
- UK-based economist Thomas Chopping, founder of science-focused search startup El Toco, believes conversational tools and web search serve different purposes and the rise of AI chat components could change how users interact with search systems.
- Chopping suggests that the rush to deploy chat assistance by Google and Microsoft may overlook how people use the web for browsing, not just asking questions.
- El Toco uses machine learning to classify and label pages for more efficient filtering, and Chopping believes a new era of search competition is at hand with lower barriers to entry.