What is Google's Bard: the AI-powered ChatGPT rival

AI technology is all around us. Google has released its AI-powered chatbot and conversation tool called Bard. It's built on deep learning algorithms or 'large language models' – LaMDA (Google's Language Model for Dialogue Applications). Bard is already available for everyone, and it seems to be ChatGPT's top rival. Read on and learn more about Google's Bard.

What is Google's Bard?

The release of ChatGPT online at the end of last year caused unprecedented buzz. It promised to be the most advanced version of language processing programs using a unique artificial intelligence developed to provide texts so fluid and accurate that it is difficult to distinguish them from human-created texts. Of course, many Internet users began to wonder whether Google would unveil a similar project in the days following the event, as the pressure has only increased for the Internet giant. What immediately caught the eye was that, in addition to mentioning the bot, there was talk of developing a way to integrate this technology with Google's navigation, which could be a complete game-changer.

At the beginning of February, Google released a new chatbot called Bard that can, like ChatGPT, answer your questions and provide high-quality deep analysis and written answers to your queries. Google's Bard is powered by LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). Like ChatGPT, it was trained on a large amount of data and can understand human language. It will soon be available to testers and, in several weeks – to the general public. Google also announced that soon Bard's features will be introduced into Google Search.

How does Bard work?

'Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world's knowledge with the power, intelligence, and creativity of our large language models. It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses. Today we're opening Bard up to trusted external testers,' said Google CEO Sundar Pichai in his Twitter post.

The idea is this: when a question is entered, the search results will display a bubble directly below the text bar, offering more human-like answers (i.e., with language more natural to us) than typical search results. Just below, the page would suggest other follow-up questions related to the search. Going further down the page would show typical search results, including videos, links, and headlines.

And not only that but by combining the processing power of neural networks with a continuous feed of data from the Internet and refinement of its models, Google's AI chat could even combine different sources to create more complex answers than a traditional search can give us. This opens up a whole world of possibilities for generating knowledge and counteracting problems such as ideological bubbles and fake news.

As Google says, they don't want to monetize Bard but to develop a 'healthy online ecosystem', AI tools, etc., to help creators and news publishers. Unlike Google Search, Bard is intended to give lengthy and comprehensive answers to any question. 

When is Bard's release date?

So far, there is no definite date for launching Google Bard to the public, so it is still too early to speculate on an upcoming date. The Californian company recognizes the responsibility of integrating this tool into all its products. According to reports from the news portal cited above, Google's head of AI, Jeff Dean, told employees at the time that the company has many more "reputational risks" in providing misinformation and is therefore moving "more conservatively than a small startup" (as is the case with OpenAI). 

We know that Bard will initially launch with a light version of LaMDA, which requires less processing power and may be available to more users. This would avoid the problem that occurred after the launch of ChatGPT when the site was saturated, and you had to try to connect several times before being able to access it. According to Pichai, the feedback users provide will help make this a secure and high-quality tool.

What's the difference between Google's Bard and ChatGPT?

It's hard to say how exactly ChatGPT and Bart differ because we don't know much about the latter. They are both based on 'large language models' and have pretty much the same functions and uses. Although we can already say that ChatGPT works offline, it has a limited database, whereas Google Bart is connected to the Internet. Hence, it has a better knowledge of topical facts and events and provides more up-to-date answers. 

Hopefully, Google will build on the incredible competitive advantage of being one of the world's most widely used search engines, with the tremendous data collection that implies, to integrate this program into Google searches. As reported by CNBC, it had access to possible designs for this integration. One showed the search page with five different queries located directly below the main search bar, replacing the "I'm feeling lucky" option. It also showed a small chat logo on the far right of the search bar.

Learn more about ChatGPT and another AI product of Google – Google Sparrow to be up to date with what's happening in the AI world.