Google Has Introduced Its Own Chatbot AI, Bard, to Compete Against ChatGPT

The race to replace all human interaction with robots has a new entrant. Google recently announced that it would be unveiling Bard, its AI chatbot designed to have conversational capabilities similar to those used by ChatGPT. The announcement led many to wonder what Bard is, and how it might differ from the popular AI chatbot that is already available.

Google claims that its chatbot is designed to explain complicated topics and subjects in terms that even children can understand. They also claim that the chatbot will be able to do more mundane tasks, like offering suggestions about what you can make with the food you have in your fridge.

In a blog post from Feb. 6, 2023, Google CEO Sundar Pichai explained that Bard would initially be rolled out to a group of testers before it's made available to the public more generally.

"Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models," Sundar writes in the post. "It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses. Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity."

The major distinction between Bard and ChatGPT, at least for now, seems to be that Bard will be updating its information regularly.

In addition to introducing an AI chatting tool, Google is also integrating its large language model AI systems into the products that it already offers to the public. If you try to search a question that doesn't have an easy or definitive answer, Google says that it will be using AI to help synthesize that information into a format that is easy to digest and is based in multiple perspectives.

"Soon, you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web: whether that’s seeking out additional perspectives, like blogs from people who play both piano and guitar, or going deeper on a related topic, like steps to get started as a beginner," the blog post explains.

The news that Google is pushing ahead with its own AI chatbot comes after Microsoft announced that it would be pouring a significant amount of money into OpenAI, the company that built ChatGPT. This new wave of investment comes after the company invested $1 billion in the company in 2019, and is designed to put pressure on Google to prove that it can remain competitive as AI becomes more common.

Bard is reportedly part of a larger effort inside Google to respond to ChatGPT, which acquired tens of millions of users after it became available to the public late last year. While there are certainly flaws and faults in the technology to explore, Google clearly believes that these kinds of Chatbots are going to be increasingly prevalent in the future.