In childhood, if you wanted to find a song but didn’t know its title, you had to hum and ask, “Do you know this song? Hmm hmm~~ hmm hmm hmm.” If no one could help or if you weren’t a good singer, you had to wait for the DJ on the radio to announce the title.
With the advent of the internet, the world changed dramatically. Instead of humming, you could type a few lyrics into a search engine to find the song you were looking for. Now, you can simply open an AI app on your smartphone, play a snippet, or hum it, and it will remarkably identify the song, even confirming it through YouTube.
Before the AI era, the keyboard was the primary interface connecting us to the internet, and text was the main medium. The generation that learned to combine search terms effectively to get the desired results is known as the 'internet natives.'
However, we have now entered an era where we ask questions of AI instead of searching. Google has redesigned its single-line text search box into a query interface for AI, adding multimodal search capabilities that include images, voice, and video. This shift symbolizes the transition from the internet age to the 'AI native' era.
In the past, obtaining desired knowledge required careful consideration and combination of relevant words. This was our method of 'searching' for information. Now, instead of typing text, we can use all types of data we encounter—photos, videos, sounds—to instantly retrieve the information we need.
The format of answers has also changed. Previously, Google analyzed user keywords and prioritized the most relevant answers. Now, AI focuses on understanding context and user intent. Instead of sifting through a long list of search results, users can read a complete answer from AI and refine their requests if the information is not satisfactory.
It is time to redefine the act of 'searching.' While traditional searching was a skill to find fragmented information on the internet, AI-powered 'multimodal search' acts more like an auxiliary memory for humans.
Consider how we think: starting with abstract questions, we refine them to find the most suitable information. Interacting with AI is similar. Unlike the past, where we presented clear terms, we can now pose abstract questions and requests, and AI analyzes and visualizes them in real time.
This process allows us to collaboratively build ideas. It transcends simple searching through a window and approaches the synchronization of AI with the human brain.
AI can be seen as a guide to accessing the cloud filled with all the world's information. Even while we sleep, AI continues to search for and create new information in the cloud. Knowledge has shifted from being something we memorize to something we look up when needed, now fully established as an auxiliary memory in the cloud.
Imagine being curious about a famous building you see for the first time at a tourist site. By simply pointing your smartphone camera or smart glasses, AI can instantly provide over an hour's worth of in-depth information. Even when users are unsure of what they want, AI observes the surrounding context and delivers the necessary information.
AI serves a role beyond that of a simple information storage device. As technology aligns so closely with human intuition, the lives and thought processes of the AI native generation are fundamentally different from those of previous generations. At this point, AI has evolved from a mere search tool to a bridge that continuously connects humans with the cloud and acts as an extension of our brains.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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