Google Introduces AI Chatbot “Bard” to its Search Engine, Powered by LaMDA

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently announced the release of Google Bard, an AI chatbot designed to be integrated into Google internet searches.[0] Bard is built on Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), a project the tech giant has been developing for the past two years.[1] The conversational AI service is currently undergoing internal testing and will be released to the public in the coming weeks.

Google’s announcement follows wide speculation that Microsoft is about to bring the AI chatbot ChatGPT to its search engine Bing, following a multi-billion dollar investment in the firm behind it, OpenAI. Microsoft has had some misses with chatbots in the past, but the company is said to be integrating ChatGPT into its Bing search engine as well as other products in its suite of office software.

Google provided an example of Bard answering the question “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year old about?”[2] The AI tool responded with three bullet points.[3] Unfortunately, the third suggestion given by Bard was incorrect, as it stated that the JWST took the “very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system”.[4] Grant Tremblay at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics pointed out that the first image of an exoplanet was actually captured by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in 2004, according to NASA.[5]

At the Google Presents event in Paris on Wednesday, Search boss Prabhakar Raghavan shared some fresh examples of Bard in action.[6] The demo revealed a glaring error by incorrectly stating that the James Webb Space Telescope took the “very first pictures” of an exoplanet outside our solar system.[5]

Google and Microsoft are both using AI in search because it can be helpful in synthesizing insights for questions where there’s no one right answer.[7] Google is infusing more AI into its search engine, using the technology to answer complex queries and distill them into one blurb of information.[8] Meanwhile, Microsoft is also increasing its focus on artificial intelligence, boosting funding for new tools and integrating the technology underpinning ChatGPT into products including its Bing search engine and Edge browser.[9]

Bard and ChatGPT are both built upon large language models.[10] LaMDA, standing for “language model for dialogue applications” is a technology developed by Google.[10]

0. “With Bard, Google joins the race against ChatGPT to answer our queries” Moneycontrol, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/opinion/bard-google-joins-race-against-chatgpt-to-answer-our-queries-10027741.html

1. “Google’s AI chatbot is out to rival ChatGPT” TechRepublic, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.techrepublic.com/article/google-ai-chatbot-rival-chatgpt/

2. “Google Stock Tumbles 8% After Bard Ad Shows Inaccurate Answers, AI Race Heats Up” Investor’s Business Daily, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.investors.com/news/google-stock-falls-after-googles-bard-ai-ad-shows-inaccurate-answer/

3. “Google’s ChatGPT Rival, Bard, Called Out for NASA Webb Space Telescope Error” CNET, 9 Feb. 2023, https://www.cnet.com/science/space/googles-chatgpt-rival-bard-called-out-for-nasa-webb-space-telescope-error

4. “Google Bard advert shows new AI search tool making a factual error” New Scientist, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.newscientist.com/article/2358426-google-bard-advert-shows-new-ai-search-tool-making-a-factual-error

5. “ChatGPT and Google’s Bard: Are we looking for answers in all the wrong places?” ZDNet, 9 Feb. 2023, https://www.zdnet.com/article/chatgpt-and-googles-bard-are-we-looking-for-answers-in-all-the-wrong-places

6. “Google shows off more of what its ChatGPT competitor Bard can do” CNBC, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/08/google-bard-heres-more-of-what-the-chatgpt-competitor-can-do.html

7. “Google announces ChatGPT rival Bard, with wider availability in “coming weeks”” The Verge, 6 Feb. 2023, https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/6/23588033/google-chatgpt-rival-bard-testing-rollout-features

8. “‘AI First’ To Last: How Google Fell Behind In The AI Boom” Forbes, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardnieva/2023/02/08/google-openai-chatgpt-microsoft-bing-ai/

9. “What went wrong with Google’s ChatGPT rival Bard?” Yahoo News, 9 Feb. 2023, https://news.yahoo.com/what-went-wrong-google-chatgpt-rival-bard-103201972.html

10. “How will Google and Microsoft AI chatbots affect us and how we work?” The Guardian, 7 Feb. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/07/how-will-google-and-microsoft-ai-chatbots-affect-us-and-how-we-work