Today, Google unveiled its rival to ChatGPT: “Bard”. The news follows the public’s rapid embrace of ChatGPT, a competing chatbot from OpenAI.
Introducing Bard
In a blog post, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said his company is opening a conversational AI service called Bard to a trusted set of test users for feedback on their use of the technology. After the testing phase, the company will probably release Bard for public use in the coming weeks.
Pichai mentioned Google plans to add AI features to its search engine that combine complex queries, like whether learning guitar or piano is easier. He also demonstrated using Bard to simplify complex topics, like explaining new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old.
Understanding the model
Behind Bard is Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), Google’s AI that generated text with such alleged skill that a company engineer called it “sentient”. The company and colleagues have since dismissed the engineer’s claim.
However, the way Google aims to differentiate Bard from ChatGPT is unclear. Pichai said the new service draws on information from the internet, whereas ChatGPT’s knowledge database was frozen in 2021.
Play with Bard
You can access Bard and join the waitlist. Currently, it’s only available in the UK and the US. However, there are plans to roll it out in other jurisdictions soon. Note you can’t currently access it with a Google Workplace account or if you’re under 18 years old.
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