AI-powered search engines can outperform traditional ones by understanding context and summarizing results with sources. CIOs should pilot AI-powered search to boost research speed and precision, but privacy and accuracy should also be taken into consideration.
Why You Should Care
Enterprise search is often a productivity black hole—employees spend too much time refining search terms because traditional search engines rely on blunt keyword matching. AI-powered search turns this around by using natural language processing and machine learning to understand query context, summarize answers, and cite sources—saving time and increasing relevance.
Unlike general-purpose chatbots, AI search engines are purpose-built for information retrieval, not content generation or casual Q&A. That specialization translates into sharper, more dependable results for research tasks. They also offer faster searches and better personalization, tailoring responses based on behaviors or preferred sources.
However, proceed with caution. AI-powered tools can hallucinate, introduce bias, or inadvertently leak sensitive data if search queries are used to train the underlying models. Enterprises must scrutinize vendors’ data policies and guide employees to treat AI search results as a starting point.
What You Should Do Next
- Pilot AI search tools in departments with heavy research needs (for example, legal, R&D, and compliance).
- Vet vendors for data privacy guarantees to ensure no employee search data is used for training.
- Educate teams to verify results through follow-up searches using traditional engines.
Get Started
- Start small and specialized. Test AI search tools in one department to evaluate improvements in research efficiency and result relevance.
- Guard your data. Only select solutions that guarantee no training on enterprise search data. Do not allow your data to be leaked.
- Encourage staff to use AI search for initial insight, then verify using traditional tools or domain-specific sources.
- Pick the right tool for the task. Choose AI search engines for focused research; opt for chatbots only when broader AI functionality is needed.