No one was prepared for Google search when it came along. Search engines existed, of course, but not like that—not like Google. It was clear pretty early that Google search was one of those applications that comes along every 20 years or so and changes not just the game, but people’s lives.
Flash forward 20 years, and the next not only game-changing but life-changing technology is on our doorstep: ChatGPT. But ChatGPT is not the next 20-year app for the reasons that so many people have jumped to.
More on that below. But first I need to take you back to 1999, when I was so much younger than today. Google search had just appeared, and I quickly figured out how to use it. In fact, after a couple of years, my close friends in Computer Science and I joked about how it was our secret advantage over people with more experience. We knew how to use Google really, really well, which I felt a bit insecure about, doubting this could possibly be a durable advantage in the marketplace. I understood the nature of what Page and Brin were attempting to do, even if I had no idea how they were doing it.
