Google LLC, a US based multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, has unveiled Bard, its ChatGPT rival that leverages LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), Google’s own language model. The announcement comes days after CEO Sundar Pichai revealed its development during an earnings call. Introducing Bard, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the LaMDA-powered chatbot will be made available to the public in the coming weeks.
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Prior to the call, Google management called ChatGPT “code red” as the AI-powered platform received positive responses from users across the world. In a blog post, Google says that it is opening Bard up to “trusted testers” ahead of making it more widely available to the public in the coming weeks. ChatGPT, on the other hand, is available to test for free. It recently clocked 100 million users in just two months.
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1/ In 2021, we shared next-gen language + conversation capabilities powered by our Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA). Coming soon: Bard, a new experimental conversational #GoogleAI service powered by LaMDA. https://t.co/cYo6iYdmQ1
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) February 6, 2023
It is pertinent to mention here that Microsoft, which has confirmed plans to invest billions OpenAI, has already said it would incorporate the tool into some of its products – and it is rumored to be planning to integrate it into its search engine, Bing. Microsoft on Tuesday is set to hold a news event at its Washington headquarters, the topic of which has yet to be announced. Microsoft publicly announced the event shortly after Google’s AI news dropped on Monday.
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The underlying technology that supports Bard has been around for some time, though not widely available to the public. Google unveiled its Language Model for Dialogue Applications (or LaMDA) some two years ago, and said Monday that this technology will power Bard. LaMDA made headlines late last year when a former Google engineer claimed the chatbot was “sentient.” His claims were widely criticized in the AI community.
In the post Monday, Google offered the example of a user asking Bard to explain new discoveries made by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in a way that a 9-year-old might find interesting. Bard responds with conversational bullet-points. The first one reads: “In 2023, The JWST spotted a number of galaxies nicknamed ‘green peas.’ They were given this name because they are small, round, and green, like peas.”
Bard can be used to plan a friend’s baby shower, compare two Oscar-nominated movies or get lunch ideas based on what’s in your fridge, according to the post from Google.
Pichai also said Monday that AI-powered tools will soon begin rolling out on Google’s flagship Search tool.
