Failed demo costing company $100 billion? That happened to Alphabet
What's the story
Google unveiled Bard, its new experimental AI service, earlier this week. The ChatGPT-rival was expected to calm the storm at the search giant's doorstop. However, it did just the opposite. Following a promotional video where the chatbot shared inaccurate information, Google parent Alphabet's shares took a nosedive, losing $100 billion in market value. This has led to questions about Google's capability to challenge ChatGPT.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The AI race involving Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI is heating up. The Microsoft-OpenAI partnership has pushed Google to the back of the line. The company's attempts at catching up with its rivals are being thwarted by its own mistakes. Bard's wrong answer and an AI event that fell way short of expectations make things hard for Google in the AI battle.
Bard's mistake
The chatbot made a mistake in a promotional video
A short GIF video shared by Google ahead of its 'Live from Paris' AI event is the culprit of the new issue surrounding Google's AI development. The video shared to demonstrate Bard's ability to "simplify complex information" turned out to do the opposite. It was Reuters that first pointed out the mistake ahead of the Paris event.
Inaccurate
Bard gave an incorrect answer about JWST's discoveries
In the video, Bard gave many answers to the prompt "What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can I tell my 9-year-old about?" It said the JWST was the first to take pictures of a planet outside our solar system. However, it was the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) that took the first pictures of an exoplanet in 2004.
Testing
Mistake highlights the importance of rigorous testing: Google
A Google spokesperson said Bard's mistake highlights the importance of a "rigorous testing process." The company plans to do this with its "trusted tester program," which began this week. "We'll combine external feedback with our own internal testing to make sure Bard's responses meet a high bar for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information," the spokesperson added.
AI event
Google's AI event failed to dazzle
Bard's error became public just before Google's much-anticipated AI event. The fact that the event happened a day after Microsoft announced the integration of Bing and ChatGPT added to the excitement surrounding it. However, Google did not have anything new for the crowd waiting to hear more about Bard. The event failed to dazzle on all counts.