It’s official: Google is working on a ChatGPT competitor called Bard.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the project today in a blog post, describing the tool as an “experimental conversational AI service” that answers user questions and participates in conversations. The software will be available to a group of “trusted testers” today, Pichai says, before it becomes “widely available to the public in the coming weeks.”
It’s not clear exactly what abilities Bard will have, but it looks like the chatbot is as free as it is ChatGPT from OpenAI. A screenshot encourages users to ask Bard practical questions, such as how to plan a baby shower or what kind of meals can be made from a list of lunch ingredients.
Writes Pichai: “Bard can be an outlet for creativity and a launching pad for curiosity, helping you explain new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn about the best strikers in football at this moment.and then get exercises to build your skills.
Pichai also notes that Bard “grabs information from the internet to provide fresh, high-quality answers,” suggesting it could potentially answer questions about recent events — something ChatGPT struggles with.
The hasty announcement and lack of information about Bard are telltale signs of the “code redtriggered at Google by the launch of ChatGPT last year. While ChatGPT’s underlying technology isn’t revolutionary, OpenAI’s decision to make the system freely available on the web has exposed millions of people to this new form of automated text generation. The effects have been seismic, with discussions about ChatGPT’s impact on education, work, and — of particular interest to Google — the future of web search.
Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, has also benefited at this point. The company would integrate ChatGPT into its Bing search engine, as well as other products in its suite of office software. Screenshots allegedly showing a ChatGPT-enhanced Bing leaked last week.
While Google has deep expertise in the kind of AI that powers ChatGPT (it even invented the key technology – the transformer that is the “T” in GPT), the company has so far taken a more cautious approach in sharing its tools with the public. Google previously made LaMDA, the language model underlying Bard, available through its AI Test Kitchen app. But this version is extremely limited and can only generate text related to a few queries.
Google, like other tech giants, has been wary of a backlash against untested AI. Major language models like LaMDA and GPT-3.5 (which power ChatGPT) have well-documented tendencies to spread toxic content like hate speech and to confidently claim false information. So much so that an AI science professor compared such systems to “bullshit generators– hardly a laudatory description for technology that some say should replace search engines. (Google itself explored the pitfalls of AI-accelerated search in 2021.)
The imminent launch of Bard marks a step change in Google’s approach to this technology. In his blog post, Pichai emphasizes that Google will “combine external feedback with our own internal testing to ensure that Bard’s answers meet a high bar for quality, safety, and validity in real-world information” — but it’s more or less guaranteed that the system will make errors, perhaps serious ones.
Meanwhile, Google is also highlighting how it is already building AI into its many products, including search. In recent years, Google has been using AI to summarize more and more search results, surfacing information from sites rather than allowing users to click and explore themselves. From Pichai’s post, it looks like these features will become more prominent in the future:
Soon you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web: whether that’s searching for additional perspectives like blogs from people who play both piano and guitar, or go deeper into a related topic, such as steps to get started as a beginner. These new AI features will be rolling out soon on Google Search.
As if that weren’t enough, Google is also holding an event focused on AI, search and more on Wednesday. Stay informed The edge for the latest — here before a chatbot can tell you (for now).
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.