On February 6, 2023, Google announced Bard, an experimental conversation artificial intelligence (AI) service, following discussions over the release of an alternative for the chatbot ChatGPT from Microsoft-backed company OpenAI.
According to a blog post by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, this recently launched chatbot will initially be made available to "trusted testers" before it is made available to the general public.
The discussion about the potential release of a language model that will be a companion to search was started by Pichai during the company's earnings conference call last week. As ChatGPT made information searching simpler, many users worried that it might eventually replace Google.
Google was particularly troubled by Microsoft's recent $10 billion investment in AI research OpenAI and its intentions to incorporate AI features into Bing, one of Google's main competitors, as well as a number of other Microsoft software products.
How will Bard respond?
In a manner similar to Google search, Bard will respond to user inquiries with thorough answers. But since this is a chatbot rather than a search tool, you can have a whole discussion with Bard and get your questions answered that way as well. Simply type "give me some lunch date ideas" into the search box to get the results.
The sole distinction between ChatGPT and Bard would be that Bard, which gathers data from the web to produce high-quality responses, would be able to offer more up-to-date information. Unlike ChatGPT, which can only provide information on events that will occur in 2021.
Another difference, though one that only applies to the early stages, is that only a small number of testers will get access to Bard, whereas ChatGPT is open to everyone and has gained 100 million users in the past two months.
What is Bard's process?
A big language model called Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), created by Google and launched in 2021, powers Bard, an AI-powered chatbot.
Because it would require less computational power and could scale to more people for feedback, the initial release would be based on a lightweight version of LaMDA.
Where can you access Bard?
Currently, only a small group of testers have access to Google Bard; everyone else cannot.
Available to developers
Google will also permit developers to build on top of its current AI models. Starting in March, developers, creators, and businesses can test the Generative Language API, which will be driven by LaMDA and other language models.
The tech giant also intends to establish a set of tools and APIs that will enable developers to experiment and produce more AI-based applications.