Is the popular search box the best way to search the Web? Not necessarily.
A few of the biggest names in search will be discussing their current research into alternative approaches and where search is headed at a conference next week.
Big Think’s Farsight 2011: Beyond the Search Box event in San Francisco next week is slated to bring together search rivals, academics, analysts and investors to discuss and debate where search is headed.
Although Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Bing is sponsoring the event, Big Think says the software giant didn’t influence the agenda.
“We are a website with no political agenda that focuses on big ideas and sharing that information with the public,” Big Think co-founder and CEO Victoria Brown told Internetnews.com. “Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has agreed to participate because this event is about figuring out what’s important in search.”
A spokesperson for Microsoft said Bing is sponsoring Farsight because “we’re really just interested in generating a conversation throughout the industry, with Google, Blekko and other search firms on the upcoming trends, any problems that are arising and the increasing use of artificial intelligence to get the right search results.”
Among the provocatively-titled panels is: “Web 4.0: When the Machines Take Over. When will A.I. and Machine Learning reach social utility?”
Datamation has a full report on the event which will be offered as a free webcast.