Website Owners Beware: The Rise of AI Chatbots
Website owners have long been concerned about search engine optimization and providing quality content for their audience. However, a new threat has emerged in the form of artificial intelligence chatbots. These chatbots have the potential to embody websites and provide answers to users without them needing to visit the actual page.
This trend towards assisted searches is not new, as Google has been providing helpful information for some time now. From shopping recommendations to Wikipedia excerpts, users can find much of what they need without leaving the search engine. This is convenient for users and profitable for providers.
However, the rise of AI chatbots like Microsoft’s Bing and Google’s Bard poses a threat to website operators. These chatbots may not provide sources for their answers, which could lead to intellectual property concerns for site operators. Inaccuracies and vulnerabilities have also been reported with these chatbots, but as they are trained, they could become more accurate.
One way for site operators to protect their content is to provide disclaimers and references to their pages, even if the chatbot provides the answer. This could intercept a significant portion of daily searches and keep users on the chatbot page. However, it remains to be seen what the future holds for website operators and AI chatbots.
