Google introduces AI-powered assistant 'Bard' to compete with ChatGPT

Bard seeks to unite "the extensive knowledge of the world with the capability, intelligence, and imaginative abilities of our advanced language models."

In a blog post by CEO Sundar Pichai, the AI chatbot, also referred to as the model or service, was unveiled. Pichai highlighted Google's shift towards AI in recent years and the creation of the groundbreaking Transformer concept by the company's researchers in 2017. He expressed excitement about translating deep research into practical products that can benefit people.

OpenAI's quick success in the field of AI, compared to Google, can be attributed to its focus on developing the best models and allowing people to discover their own applications, rather than figuring out how to integrate AI into existing business strategies.

Google is now following a similar approach by releasing a test version of its lightweight model, using its own LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) to power a conversational AI that can access information from the web. The details of this process are not specified in the blog post, but it appears to be up-to-date.

Google maintains the most current record of web content on Earth and Bard will surely utilize this information for its benefit. However, it's still unclear how Bard processes and presents this information until it's actually put into use.

Bard can also be used to plan events like a baby shower, compare movies, and plan trips. The AI model could use search results and data from Google to perform these tasks, but it's likely to be limited to providing information, not having integrations with personal calendars or airlines.

As with any conversational AI, there will be attempts to test its limits by making it say harmful, ridiculous, or embarrassing things. Google will monitor conversations with users to ensure Bard's responses are of high quality, safe, and based on real-world information. This is also a reference to OpenAI's models that don't provide sources and Microsoft's Galactica that was criticized for inventing them.