Fast developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools are set to start new competitive battles between Google and Microsoft. Google chief Sundar Pichai announced this week his company had developed a new AI-powered chatbot tool. A chatbot is a computer program designed to interact with humans in a conversational way. The search engine company said it plans to use the new chatbot service, called “Bard,” to provide a better online search experience. Google currently holds more than 80 percent of the worldwide internet search market, the online data company Statista reports. Bard is one of several recently launched tools that demonstrate major AI development progress in recent years. The tools are built by feeding huge amounts of data into machine learning computer systems. The data trains the AI systems to develop complex skills and produce human-like results. A free writing tool called ChatGPT was launched by a company called OpenAI late last year. The tool received widespread media attention for being able to produce human-quality written documents very quickly. Technology experts have said such systems have the possibility to greatly change many different industries and professions. Microsoft recently announced a new, multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI. As part of its partnership, Microsoft provides “supercomputing systems” to OpenAI to support the development of new AI products. One day after Google confirmed the development of its new Bard chatbot, Microsoft announced plans to redesign its Bing search engine and Edge web browser with a series of new AI tools. Technology experts say the two announcements are a clear sign that Google and Microsoft are seeking to compete directly in the online search market as well as other online areas.