Sahansa Jayawardhana

 An AI arms race has been accelerated by ChatGPT's rapid growth, which has the potential to alter how we search the internet. Could someone new still be able to make an impact as Google looks to its past for inspiration and Microsoft stakes a multibillion-dollar bet? Without Google, the internet would be hard to imagine. We no longer look it up; instead, we "Google it" because the tech giant has become so synonymous with web browsing that it has become a verb. Google ended 2022 as the most popular website in the world, as it always does. It is estimated to have a 92% share of the search engine market; Microsoft's Bing is its closest competitor, with a 3% share. It might not look like a landscape that is ready for change on the surface, but don't be so sure. The AI chatbot ChatGPT's launch last year posed a threat to the way journalists write stories, children do their homework, and people prepare for job interviews. It sparked speculation that it could be a t...

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has left users wondering where to go should the platform go up in flames or its content moderation policies unravel. But is there really a viable alternative to Twitter yet? Elon Musk has made sweeping changes to Twitter since taking over in late October. He’s laid off over half the staff, announced plans to let a huge swath of previously suspended users return to the site, and sparked fears of the site crumbling or being overrun with harassment. As a result, a lot of users have started looking for a life raft, another platform where they can continue tweeting without all of the chaos. There’s just one problem: there really isn’t a viable alternative to Twitter yet. With the moment ripe, a lot of people are trying to build one. Small companies and developers are racing to put their own twist on the Twitter formula, hoping tweaks to moderation and the tools people use to connect with one another can fix fundamental problems with the platform and, hopefu...