Google Bard, OpenAI ChatGPT, Bing Highlights: Alphabet shares dive due to Bard’s incorrect answer

This Google AI event happens at a pivotal moment for the tech giant as its search engine supremacy is threatened by the likes of ChatGPT

Google showcased its latest work artificial intelligence (AI) as part of an event that was livestreamed on YouTube on February 8. The ‘Live from Paris’ event put the focus on AI with Google briefly talking about its ‘Bard’ chatbot, which it showcased earlier this week.  But it looks like one incorrect answer from Bard has caused chaos, with Alphabet shares falling sharply, their biggest fall in three months. In a promotional tweet, Bard gave a wrong answer about the James Webb Space Telescope (JSWT) being the first to take pictures of ‘exoplanets’, which many pointed out was wrong. The end result: Google’s parent Alphabet saw shares dive by nearly 7 per cent.

Google’s event took place a day after Microsoft held a surprise event with OpenAI, announcing deeper integration of AI features into the Bing search and Edge browser. Keep in mind Bard is being released on a smaller model of LaMDA. Nor is it available to the public at large like ChatGPT. Right now, it looks like Google is only keep this open to ‘trusted testers’ before it is made available to more users. Google also showcased how Search will now have answers using the help of generative AI– aka in the form of essays, similar to how ChatGPT works. But we don’t know when these will start rolling out.

Google is getting ready to host its own big AI event a day after Microsoft showcased a revamped and stronger Bing search and Edge Browser. Microsoft is integrating OpenAI's large language models into Bing search and these models are supposedly bigger than what power ChatGPT at the moment. For Google, the announcement is perhaps the biggest threat it has faced to its core Search business in decades and this is clearly a do-or-die moment for the company.

Google is expected to showcase how it will integrate AI into search including giving details about Bard, its own chatbot. Bard right now is based on Google's own LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) and will soon be able to answer and search queries for users in a conversational manner, similar to how ChatGPT functions at the moment. But Google has also said that the model they are using to test out Bard is a limited one. Further, it is only being made available in beta testing right now, and we're guessing one will have to sign up to get access. More details on how one can get access are also expected later tonight.

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