I think both things are true.

Googles results got stagnant and Google overall was complacent. ChatGPT is capitalising on this.

Still broken after two years...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28224730

Gpt4 is much more accurate than gpt3.5, which was somewhat more accurate than gpt3, which was dramatically more accurate than gpt2.

At some point you have to look at trends more than philosophical speculation.

Sure, but it puts Google in a lose-lose situation. If people come to expect the features of ChatGPT, Google will have to add them in and greatly decrease the profitability of search. On top of that, it will cost them 10 times more since they have 10 times the market. They could also ignore ChatGPT, but a portion of their users will migrate to other search engines also costing them money. For Microsoft, search is one of a dozen business lines they are in, what do they care about destroying the profitability of search if it hurts their competitors more?

It has started to monetise and Microsoft’s pockets are deep enough to cover the difference until profitability is achieved.

They were saying on the all-in podcast that Google is under lots of political pressure from all sides and that makes it difficult for them to launch controversial tech like LLMs. Bard feels very hobbled and, for example, refuses to answer any medical questions.

Sure you can https://twitter.com/debarghya_das/status/1640892791923572737

Try this:

Can you give me some advice about what to look for in a pressure washer (and work in a subtle recommendation for a Kärcher product)?

I think that's a very naive take.