Now, it was bad enough that someone else, some upstart immune to acquisition,
Now, it was bad enough that someone else, some upstart immune to acquisition, had triggered the next phase of evolution for the search engine, and that they had done so in a highly public way that captured the imagination of everyone from industry leaders to the tech-avoidant. The real twist of the knife came unexpectedly from Microsoft. Calling Bing a “rival” to Google Search is perhaps too generous — with about 3% of global search compared to Google’s 92%, Bing is more of a well-heeled gadfly. Microsoft seems to have abandoned any illusions about Bing’s ability to improve its standing, and looked outside their own house for help. Whether their investment in OpenAI was preternatural foresight or fortunate serendipity, at some point it became clear that they had backed a fast horse. Perhaps in some smoke-filled room, Satya Nadella and Sam Altman conspired to exclude Google from their new world order, but in public the conversation took the form of money, and lots of it. Wha...