UNITED STATES: Google’s parent firm, Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O), declared on Monday that in an effort to compete with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) for control of the next generation of computers, it will launch a chatbot service and add more artificial intelligence to its search engine and developer tools.
Google’s Bard vs ChatGPT: The clash of AI-powered chatbots
Meanwhile, Microsoft said that it planned to unveil its own AI on Tuesday. The torrent of news shows how Silicon Valley is preparing for profound change brought on by so-called “generative AI,” a technology that can produce prose or other content on command and free the time of white-collar workers.
One of Google’s biggest challenges in recent memory has been the rise of ChatGPT, a chatbot from Microsoft-backed OpenAI that may change how customers search for information.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced in a blog post that his business is opening a conversational AI service dubbed Bard to test users for feedback, followed by a public launch in the upcoming weeks.
He also spoke about Google’s ambitions to include AI elements in its search engine, which will synthesise data for complex queries like which instrument is simpler to learn—the guitar or the piano. Currently, Google responds to queries with clear answers by displaying content from other websites on the internet.
The timing of Google’s update for search, which it did not reveal, shows how the business is enhancing its service while Microsoft is doing the same for Bing and integrating OpenAI’s capabilities into it.
Microsoft has stated that it intends to incorporate AI into all of its products. On Tuesday, Satya Nadella, the company’s CEO, briefed media outlets on unspecified developments, as per an invitation seen by the media. The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, tweeted that he will also be present.
It’s unclear how Google plans to distinguish Bard from OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Pichai asserted that ChatGPT’s expertise is up-to-date as of 2021 and that the new service leverages data from the internet.
Pichai said, “Bard aspires to unite the depth of human knowledge with the strength, humour, and imagination of our AI.”
The new chatbot is powered by LaMDA, Google’s artificial intelligence (AI), which produces writing with such proficiency that a corporate engineer last year referred to it as “sentient,” a remark that the tech giant and scientists largely dismissed.
In a demonstration of the service, Bard allows users to give it a prompt while cautioning that its response might be improper or wrong. The presentation then displayed in bullet form three responses to a question regarding the findings of a space telescope.
In order to serve more customers and improve based on their comments, Pichai said Google is using a version of LaMDA that uses less computing power.
ChatGPT has at times had to turn away users due to its rapid growth, with UBS analysts predicting that the app had 57 million unique visitors in December—potentially surpassing TikTok in adoption.
Pichai said Google also plans to offer tech tools, initially powered by LaMDA and later by other AI, to enterprises and creators beginning next month.
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