Move over, Perplexity. There\u2019s a new AI-powered search engine in town \u2014 and its creators think it can best the many, many other attempts out there.<\/p>\n
Called Genspark<\/a>, the platform taps generative AI to write custom summaries in response to search queries. Type in a search like, \u201cWhat\u2019s the best baby formula for newborns?\u201d and Genspark<\/a> will generate a Sparkpage: a single-page overview pieced together from websites and content around the web.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an experience similar (conspicuously so) to Arc browser\u2019s Arc Search feature<\/a>, which launched earlier this year, and Google\u2019s AI Overviews in Google Search<\/a>. But Eric Jing, who co-founded the eponymous org behind Genspark with Kay Zhu in 2023, claims that Genspark is able to deliver higher-quality results by embracing a more surgical approach.<\/p>\n \u201cGenspark uses multiple specialized AI models, each designed to tackle specific types of queries,\u201d Jing told TechCrunch. \u201cSparkpages are much like a distillation and consolidation of the current web; we also enrich these with comprehensive data, and to users, it looks like an index to the existing web.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the hood, Genspark relies on models trained in-house as well as third-party models from OpenAI, Anthropic and others to categorize users\u2019 search queries and determine how to organize \u2014 and present \u2014 the results. A basic AI-generated summary populates the top of every results page, followed by a link to a much more detailed Sparkpage.<\/p>\n For example, for travel-related searches, Genspark will serve up a Wikipedia-like Sparkpage complete with a table of contents, videos of popular nearby destinations, tips and a chatbot to field questions about various sub-topics (e.g. \u201cList the best cultural experiences\u201d). Product searches on Genspark, meanwhile, yield Sparkpages with a pros-and-cons list about the product being discussed, as well as aggregated comments and reviews from social media, publications and e-commerce stores.<\/p>\n \u201cOur AI models favor webpages with high authority and popularity, which does a lot to filter out the more \u2018out there\u2019 information,\u201d Jing said. <\/p>\n Much has been written about AI-generated overviews gone wrong. Google\u2019s AI Overviews infamously suggested putting glue on a pizza<\/a>. Arc Search told one reporter that cut-off toes will eventually grow back<\/a>. And Perplexity ripped off<\/a> articles written by outlets including CNBC, Bloomberg and Forbes without giving credit or attribution.<\/p>\n So has Genspark solved all the safety and accuracy problems? Well, not quite.<\/p>\n Genspark wouldn\u2019t tell me to make a glue pizza \u2014 nor did it insist that there were health benefits to running with scissors, or that former U.S. president Barack Obama practices Islam<\/a>. But the search engine did<\/em> recommend a few weapons that I might use to kill someone<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ethically questionable search results aren\u2019t the only controversy Genspark is confronting. It and other platforms like it threaten to cannibalize traffic to the sites from which they source their info. <\/p>\n Indeed, they already are. <\/p>\n One study found that AI Overviews could negatively affect about 25% of publisher traffic<\/a> due to the de-emphasis of webpage links. On the revenue side, an expert cited by The New York Post estimated<\/a> that AI-generated overviews could lead to more than $2 billion in publisher losses thanks to the resultant ad views declines.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t able to find examples of outright plagiarism on Genspark, but that doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t exist. Sparkpages, like Wikipedia pages, aren\u2019t static. After Genspark\u2019s AI creates the outline, anyone can share and edit copies of a Sparkpage and add whatever info they wish \u2014 including things that are offensive, wrong or plagiarized.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more \u2014 at least right now \u2014 there\u2019s no way to report problematic Sparkpages.<\/p>\n Jing says that Sparkpages are open-ended and editable by design to allow users to fact-check claims, and that Genspark\u2019s AI systems take each edit into account to improve results going forward. He also says that Genspark plans to license copyrighted content \u2014 including publisher content \u2014 where it makes sense, with the goal of improving the engine\u2019s overall accuracy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take data quality seriously, and we believe data quality is the key to win this race,\u201d Jing said. \u201cRespect for intellectual property is a core value.\u201d<\/p>\n How much will Genspark pay for IP? That\u2019s yet to be hashed out. So is Genspark\u2019s business model: Jing says that the platform will introduce \u201cpremium features\u201d in the future, but the specifics are up in the air.<\/p>\n Despite the fact that Genspark is in the earliest stages roadmap-wise, and has big technical \u2014 plus legal and ethical \u2014 hurdles ahead of it, the startup managed to close a large seed round, $60 million, led by Singapore-based VC firm Lanchi Ventures at a $260 million post-money valuation. <\/p>\n Jui Tan, managing partner at Lanchi, called Genspark\u2019s approach \u201cgenuinely compelling\u201d and said that he had confidence in Jing\u2019s and Zhu\u2019s technical direction, pointing to the pair\u2019s previous experiences building AI and search products. <\/p>\n Jing was formerly development manager on Microsoft\u2019s Bing team and chief product manager at Chinese tech giant Baidu\u2019s core search and AI divisions. Zhu, also a search-focused ex-Google and -Baidu employee, partnered with Jing four years ago to launch Xiaodu, a hardware startup building Amazon Echo-like smart devices. <\/p>\n \u201cEric and Kay are seasoned serial entrepreneurs with a proven track record of developing successful products and businesses, particularly in the AI and search domains,\u201d Tan told TechCrunch. \u201cTheir team\u2019s extensive experience positions them uniquely to drive groundbreaking innovations.\u201d<\/p>\n But I think it\u2019s an uphill battle.<\/p>\n Assuming for a moment that Genspark can sort out its tech\u2019s teething issues, identify a revenue-generating plan and scale up its small (~20-person) Singapore- and Bay Area-based team, none of which are straightforward tasks, it\u2019ll face intense competitive pressure from rival upstarts with hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank \u2014 not to mention search incumbents like Google. <\/p>\n So, can Genspark really<\/em> survive the bad optics<\/a> and failed go-to-market strategies<\/a> that\u2019ve plagued other attempts at AI-powered search engines? And can it carve out a niche in a future in which, say, OpenAI launches a comparable tool<\/a>?<\/p>\n I\u2019m not convinced. But Jing is adamant that it can.<\/p>\n \u201cMany internet users, especially those who are younger than Google, do not want to just be given a list of links and then left to figure out the rest for themselves, all while navigating sponsored content and SEO-driven content that games the system,\u201d Jing said. \u201cThey want to find what they need faster, they want more visual results and they want to know that the results are trustworthy. With AI, we can achieve all of that, and we have launched Genspark to meet those needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Genspark\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-11-at-4.42.08\u202fPM.png?w=680\")
![\"Genspark\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-11-at-9.19.48\u202fPM.png?w=680\")