TikTok Tests AI Chatbot for Search & Discovery: What You Need to Know
TikTok, the popular video-sharing app, is testing an AI chatbot called Tako to assist users with search and discovery. Tako is designed to provide recommendations and answer natural language queries related to videos. According to TechCrunch, Tako will appear on the right-hand side of the interface, giving users access to its AI-powered tools. As Google recognizes TikTok as a threat, this new move by TikTok is being closely monitored by marketers and users alike.
TikTok’s AI chatbot, Tako, is currently in the early stages of a limited test with select users in the Philippines. The chatbot is powered by a third-party chat assistant, and TikTok describes it as a tool designed to improve search and discovery for users on the platform. If successfully rolled out globally, this new AI chatbot could help users discover content via chat, rather than typing in a search box.
Google’s Prabhakar Raghavan, Senior Vice President, has acknowledged that TikTok and Instagram are eating into Google’s core products search and maps. Raghavan stated that internal research shows 40% of young people searching for places to eat lunch are using TikTok and Instagram, not Google Maps or Search.
TikTok is not a search engine that crawls the entire web. Instead, it is an internal search engine, meaning that it only looks for content on its own platform. This new AI chatbot, Tako, could prove to be a game-changer for TikTok if it is successfully rolled out globally.
