The limits of artificial intelligence have prompted information companies to look beyond computers to human brainpower as a competitive edge. The latest effort to tap people power is ChaCha.com, a search engine launching in beta this week that, in addition to the standard algorithmic search box, includes an option to direct queries to human search guides.
Scott Jones knows it is probably not wise to try to out-Google Google. But he is also not ready to concede that the world’s leading search engine, or any of its main competitors, has the Web search trick down completely.
In a Google-dominated world, starting a new search engine would seem a bad bet. But Jones, an Indiana entrepreneur credited with perfecting voicemail, is undaunted. He believes would-be Google rivals like Microsoft have missed the mark by trying to outdo it with more powerful machines and algorithms.
The Indiana tech inventor, who helped pioneer voice mail, is working on a new search engine model that employs thousands of paid "guides," who will provide live one-on-one help to users who need extra assistance tracking down online information. The free service, called ChaCha.com, goes live as a test and is expected to go into full beta later this year.
In ChaCha.com’s case, building a better search engine means making search social. “What we realized is that social interaction changes the game,” says Jones.
Jones — who previously co-founded voicemail company Boston Technology and Escient, which later became music database company Gracenote, one of the software systems employed in iTunes, — describes ChaCha.com as a system where users will be connected to someone who has "domain-specific experience" with a query. He said 30 percent of Web users either do not get their questions answered or take an average of 11 minutes to find information using traditional algorithmic-based Web search engines.
The system functions as on-demand Web-based chat. Guides field questions typed by users and return one or several answers in roughly 20 seconds, or less if the question has already been asked and answered previously. While the user waits, he or she has the privilege (or burden, depending on how you feel about commercials) of watching video ads.
His new search play, ChaCha, is instead putting its faith in an army of 3,000 expert searchers to personally help users find what they are seeking. Visitors can choose to search with a guide–live via an instant-messaging program–who returns only a handful of sites and sticks with the user until the hunt is complete.
The value of a service like ChaCha lies in its ability to connect users immediately to a knowledgeable guide, who has experience or background in particular field. “Think of it as calling – 411 directory assistance on the Web.”
“When people try us, they are blown away,” said Jones. “The results are significantly better because we are incorporating human intelligence into the mix.”
Jones thinks ChaCha will appeal to those who are unsatisfied with typical search engines.
"Google sends 2 million results in a split second, then [users] have to sift through it. But the problem is, people do not sift through it," said Jones, who is financing ChaCha with president Brad Bostic and angel investors.
“This is a paradigm shift for people,” said Jones of handling both guided and instant searches. “You cannot stray too far from the paradigm that people know today.”
Bostic said the business depends on recruiting, training and keeping guides who will keep the system running. He said new guides can join only after being invited by other guides. They will be trained by their peers. Some will specialize in a certain field, but can also be trained to handle large subject categories. The service also allows guides to earn up to 10 percent of the income of guides they have helped recruit.
The company said it will earn revenue through advertisements. ChaCha’s ad model also differs by including graphical and video ads, which are targeted based on the query.
ChaCha is relying on word of mouth to grow. If its high-touch search catches fire, however, ChaCha will need to grow its guide population exponentially. Jones sees college students as a Web-savvy pool of 10 million eager to earn $5 to $10 per hour as search experts in hundreds of areas. ChaCha’s peer review will ensure quality control, Jones added.
ChaCha is seizing on a trend in Web searches, incorporating human know-how into the process of answering people’s questions. Yahoo recently released Yahoo Answers, which allows users to pose questions, which can be answered by other users. Answer Bag, another Web site, offers a similar service. Google offers a fee-based question-and-answer service called Google Answers.
Analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group in San Jose said ChaCha is on the right track and thinking outside the box to gain users.
"You cannot build a better Google. You have to approach this market differently," Enderle said. "If these guides can get you information more quickly, it could be more popular than any other current generation of search tool."
Alan Weiner, an analyst for Gartner, a research firm, who was briefed on the service, agrees ChaCha holds enormous potential and could be very popular with users who seek reliable information. But he said it all comes down to execution.
"It has a lot of moving parts to it. It is all in the training of the guides, developing them, the system for compensating them," said Weiner. "It looks good on paper but the proof will be in how it scales. There is a lot of load testing for it to be a truly operational."
Bostic said it will take a while to attract traffic like Google, which handled 2.75 billion searches in July. But he is confident the service can work and ultimately provide a viable alternative to Google and Yahoo. It all comes down to injecting a little human touch into the search world, he said.
"We are not trying to (cover) the Web better than Google. Computers get smarter but they do not have a brain," said Bostic. "The only way to assimilate what is on the Web and deliver precise results, the only way to make that big leap is not a new algorithm — its human intelligence."
Whether or not ChaCha will be able to make more knowledge accessible, it may find fans among those overwhelmed by lengthy lists of search results, which Bostic characterizes as daunting for the average user.
Adding a guided search option to the traditional search experience "seems kind of simple on the surface," says Bostic, "but when you really think about the implications of the way we are implementing this, it is pretty profound what this can do to change the way people go about getting information."
If it works, Weiner wonders what kinds of questions ChaCha.com will answer better than, say, Google. "Is this something that works better for highly verticalized search," he muses, "for healthcare, travel, things like that?" For an answer to that question, we may just have to wait. In the meantime, feel free to watch the commercials.