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Google‘s ChatGPT competitor is officially here. The company is calling it Bard. The conversational AI service is currently experimental and only available to “trusted testers”. Google says a wider public rollout will follow in the coming weeks.
Google launches Bard as its ChatGPT competitor
ChatGPT has taken the internet by storm. Launched by Microsoft-backed OpenAI on November 30 last year, the service has raked in over 100 million users in just two months. Its stupendous popularity has created sudden urgency for conversational AI in the tech industry. Google has been in “code red” over it because industry experts see it as the future of search. The tech behemoth started working on a similar service to be prepared for the future, and that service is now official.
Google Bard is powered by LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), the company’s conventional AI tech that has been around for a few years now. According to the tech biggie, its latest AI tool can provide fresh, high-quality responses to your queries by drawing information from the web. It combines the internet’s knowledge with the “power, intelligence, and creativity” of Google’s advanced AI capabilities and language models.
“Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai explains. His words, and screenshots included in the official announcement post on the Google Blog, suggest Bard can tackle queries across a wide range of topics.
Pichai noted that Bard is using a lightweight version of LaMDA. This version requires less computing power, making Bard easily accessible to more users. It will help Google gather more user feedback. The company will combine public feedback with its internal test results and use them to improve the service. Since Bard is just entering the scene, it may not always be accurate. Google warns that the service may give “inaccurate or inappropriate information.”
Google will bring its AI tools to Search and other products
The launch of Bard may kick off a broader integration of AI into Google products, including Search. Pichai named LaMDA, PaLM, Imagen, and MusicLM among the AI tools that you will see more of across the Google ecosystem in the coming months. The tech biggie also plans to onboard developers, creators, and enterprises to try its Generative Language API. It will begin with LaMDA-powered offerings before expanding to other models.
“Over time, we intend to create a suite of tools and APIs that will make it easy for others to build more innovative applications with AI,” Pichai said. Unfortunately, the Google CEO didn’t share details about when and how the public can access Bard. We will likely hear more from the company closer to Bard’s public release, which is set for “coming weeks”. We will keep you posted on the new conversational AI service from Google.
