Topline
Google announced plans Monday to publicly launch its highly anticipated chatbot, which will be integrated with its marquee search engine as Big Tech companies race to deliver artificial intelligence products to the public after Open AI’s ChatGPT captivated millions.
Google is set to release its chatbot—Bard—in the “coming weeks,” according to the company’s CEO.
Key Facts
CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post it will unveil its chatbot—called Bard—to the public “in the coming weeks.”
One of its primary features will be providing snippets of information in response to searches that have no obvious answer, such as the question, “is the piano or guitar easier to learn, and how much practice does each need?”
Google—through its parent company, Alphabet—has spent more money than any other business on artificial intelligence, putting more than $31 billion toward research and development in 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Crucial Quote
“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,” Pichai said.
Key Background
The race is on for tech companies to roll out chatbots following the immense accomplishments of ChatGPT, which has attracted some 100 million monthly average users since it publicly launched at the end of November. Investors have been hungry to latch onto the chatbot hype, with BuzzFeed’s stock more than doubling in a single trading day last month after the company said it would start using ChatGPT to create content. Google also found itself under increasing pressure to launch its chatbot after Microsoft made a multibillion dollar investment in OpenAI as part of an agreement to integrate ChatGPT into its own search engine, Bing. OpenAI—a small, San Francisco-based startup founded in 2015—was reportedly in discussions last month to sell shares valuing the company at $29 billion.
What To Watch For
The availability of chatbots has prompted numerous ethical questions about their place in society, leading many large school districts to ban their use, citing cheating concerns.
Further Reading
Here’s What To Know About OpenAI’s ChatGPT—What It’s Disrupting And How To Use It (Forbes)
BuzzFeed Shares Shoot Up 120% As Company Goes All In On ChatGPT Craze (Forbes)
ChatGPT In Schools: Here’s Where It’s Banned—And How It Could Potentially Help Students (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/02/06/google-to-release-chatbot-following-chatgpt-frenzy/