Bard, Google's response to ChatGPT
Google presented its latest advance in artificial intelligence, Bard, on Monday February 6. A chatbot, oddly reminiscent of ChatGPT.
The future of artificial intelligence (AI) will not happen without Google. This is the message sent to the world Monday, February 6, by the boss of the American giant, Sundar Pichai. In a blog post published in the early evening (French time), the CEO of the Alphabet group presented its latest advancement in generative artificial intelligence, Bard. An AI model capable of maintaining a dialogue with its online users like a human.
"Bard's ambition is to combine the breadth of knowledge of the world with artificial intelligence", explains Sundar Pichai. "It can help you explain NASA's latest findings from the James Webb Telescope to a 9-year-old, or tell you about the best strikers in world football today." This conversation assistant will thus be able to talk to Internet users and answer all their questions, as specific as they are, already welcomes the boss of Google.
Connected to the news
A barely concealed response to ChatGPT, the conversational robot developed by the Open AI company, but also to Microsoft, which has planned to invest 10 billion dollars in this Californian research foundation created by Sam Altman, and financed by donations. "These applications will define a new standard of interaction", assured already last month to Challenges Stéphane Roder, founder of the consulting firm in artificial intelligence, AI Builders.
A further step has just been taken. Because according to Sundar Pichai, Bard will not only be able to answer questions, but also to take into account current events. "It relies on information from the web to provide up-to-date, high-quality answers," says the boss. A major difference with Chat GPT whose knowledge stops in 2021 - which gives Bard a definite advantage over its competitor.
Test phase
The Google robot will not be available to the general public for "several weeks", nuance Sundar Pichai. It will first be made available to "trusted testers" - companies specializing in AI - explains Google, which does not want its tool to be open to malicious use and prefers to ensure "that Bard's answers reach a high level in terms of quality, security and anchoring in real-world information".
It is therefore a test period that opens for the group, after an initial phase of hesitation. In December, a "red" alert was declared at Google headquarters in the face of the growing success of Chat GPT. According to the New York Times, its two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, had even been called for help to prepare its response, and refine its strategy in terms of artificial intelligence.
Soon in the Google engine
Because the launch of Bard also responds to an emergency for the group: to integrate more artificial intelligence into its search engine. A feature that should be "deployed soon" by Google, says its CEO. "Internet users usually turn to Google for quick factual answers, like how many keys does a piano have?" Recognizes Sundar Pichai. But "more and more people are yearning for more in-depth information and understanding", he continues, such as helping the Internet user to choose between learning the piano or the guitar.
A sign of the importance attached to this product, the Google teams in France were only notified of this announcement at the last minute. A news that could reverse the showdown initiated by Microsoft in the field of artificial intelligence. Because Google has also planned to release a tool to integrate Bard into other applications (API) and open it up to developers. One more argument to defend its Cloud offer. And showing the Mountain View group has not said its last word in a field it knows well.