Google has unveiled Bard, an AI-powered search feature to compete against ChatGPT

Google has made a move to join the current enthusiasm for conversational AI, which is driven by the immense success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. CEO Sundar Pichai discussed this in a blog post, reflecting on the company’s recentering around AI, and how the Transformer concept, created by Google’s researchers in 2017, has been highly influential. 

Pichai expressed that it is an exciting time as research and breakthroughs are being developed into products that help people. Google is now introducing its AI experiment, Bard, which combines the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence, and creativity of their large language models. It has a range of applications, from helping explain new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, to finding the best strikers in football and drills to build skills. It also has features that use AI to synthesize insights for questions where there is no one right answer. 

Google is using its LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) to power the conversational AI and draw on information from the web. It is also ensuring that conversations meet a high bar for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information, something OpenAI’s models have been criticized for not doing. Google’s Bard is a lightweight version of its model, designed for testing purposes.