Google search guru Amit Singhal believes the search-engine of the future will be “a perfect personal assistant” — knowing what you want, when you want it.<\/p>\n
Although people can travel to the moon’s surface without leaving their armchairs, search-engine developments so far are just “baby steps” to “the holy grail of search”, Singhal told AFP in a rare interview.<\/p>\n
Singhal, 44, has already brought transformational change to the Internet since he took over development of Google’s search engine in 2000, when the web was still relatively limited and access achingly slow.<\/p>\n
The “Google fellow” — the title the California company bestows on its top thinkers — sees a world of “knowledge on demand” before people even know they want it, as speech recognition, language understanding, touch technology and computer advances combine.<\/p>\n
The search engine of the future will be the “perfect personal assistant giving you benefit of all technical knowledge, enhancing your thought processes”, he said.<\/p>\n
Singhal dismisses criticism by some scientists that having all the information at people’s fingertips could create lazy minds, shortening attention spans and reducing capacity to remember information.<\/p>\n
“People always worry about change,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We have to teach people to swim with the flow of technology, not swim against it,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There were worries about the Gutenberg printing press — that it would destroy the beauty of the spoken word, but we’re far better off with the knowledge it’s brought,” he said.<\/p>\n
“People worried TV would stop people reading books but that hasn’t happened,” he noted.<\/p>\n
“The Internet has made people more productive — removing barriers to getting information,” he said.<\/p>\n
Search is at the core of Google, which fields millions of questions a day in more than 110 languages.<\/p>\n
Singhal’s vision has helped make it the most visited search engine globally, as well as one of the planet’s most profitable companies.<\/p>\n
“These are immensely exciting times” with search technology “going through an exponential period” of change, he said.<\/p>\n
“Ultimately I believe this will give mankind healthier, happier lives, not just through wearable technology, but the sum total of information that will be within our reach to improve lives.”<\/p>\n
When Singhal talks about his technological inspiration and the future of search engines, he smiles and says: “Star Trek.”<\/p>\n
Singhal watched the popular science-fiction show obsessively growing up in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.<\/p>\n
The series — Singhal viewed repeats so often he knew the dialogue by heart — gave him a dream about a future where a computer like the one on the starship Enterprise could provide any information immediately.<\/p>\n
And life has given Singhal, a graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology and Cornell University, the chance to help develop just that kind of technology.<\/p>\n
“I imagined a future where a starship computer would be able to answer any question I might ask, instantly.”<\/p>\n
“We’re closer to that dream than I ever thought possible during my working life,” said Singhal, adding that he was “blessed to do something I love”.<\/p>\n
Singhal is in charge of what Google calls its “search algorithms”, which decide how best to retrieve information and answer questions.<\/p>\n
His team tests thousands of search algorithms every year, adjusting, tweaking and inventing. The key is ranking information, giving the most pertinent answer first.<\/p>\n
The more Google keeps users happy, the better it is able to beat competition from Yahoo and other sites, and also draw lucrative advertisement to its pages.<\/p>\n
Just as USS Enterprise Captain James Kirk never had to type a question into the spaceship’s computer, asking it questions aloud instead, Singhal sees searches heading in the same way with better voice recognition.<\/p>\n
Singhal was in New Delhi to announce launch of Google’s new Hindi-language content website.<\/p>\n
Nearly all of India’s 198-million English speakers are already online and Google hopes the local-language website will add 300-million more Internet users.<\/p>\n
Singhal said the website in Hindi, India’s most widely spoken language, would make the Internet “more accessible for people like my mom” who’s more comfortable in Hindi than in English.<\/p>\n
“Knowledge is empowerment,” he said.<\/p>\n
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