Google has announced a new AI-powered chatbot named Bard, which will be a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Bard will be an “experimental conversational AI service” designed to answer user queries and participate in conversations. It will be available to a select group of testers today before becoming more widely available in the coming weeks. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Bard will draw on information from the web to provide high-quality responses, making it potentially capable of answering questions about recent events. The software is based on Google's LaMDA language model.
Google's announcement of Bard comes in response to the successful launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has been made freely available on the web and has sparked discussions about the impact of AI on various industries, including education and work. Microsoft has also taken advantage of the opportunity by integrating ChatGPT into its Bing search engine and office software suite.
Google has previously been cautious about sharing its AI tools with the public, but the launch of Bard marks a shift in its approach. Pichai has stressed that the company will be combining external feedback with internal testing to ensure that Bard's responses meet a high bar for quality, safety, and accuracy. However, it is almost certain that the system will make errors, at least initially.
Google has been using AI to summarize search results and surface information from sites, and Pichai has indicated that these features will become more prominent in the future. The company is also hosting an event focused on AI, search, and more on Wednesday, further emphasizing its commitment to the technology.
Overall, the launch of Bard by Google is a significant development in the AI-powered chatbot industry and is likely to drive further innovation and competition in the space.