Alphabet’s Google said Tuesday that Bard, its generative artificial intelligence, will have the ability to fact-check its answers and analyze users’ personal Google data as the tech giant works to overtake ChatGPT in popularity.
Last year’s release of ChatGPT, a chatbot from Microsoft-backed OpenAI, sparked a race in the tech industry to give consumers access to generative AI technology. At the time, ChatGPT was the fastest growing consumer application ever and is now one of the top 30 websites in the world.
Bard didn’t take off in the same way. In August, it received 183 million visits, 13 percent of what ChatGPT received, according to website analytics firm Similarweb.
As Google looks to gain ground in the rapidly changing AI space, Google is introducing Bard Extensions, which allow users to import their data from other Google products. For example, users can ask Bard to search their files in Google Drive or provide a summary of the user’s Gmail inbox. For now, Bard users can only get information from Google apps, but Google is working with third-party companies to connect their applications to Bard in the future, Google senior product director Jack Krawczyk said.
Another new feature in Bard attempts to alleviate a nagging problem for generative AI: inaccurate responses known as “hallucinations.” Bard users can see which parts of Bard’s answers differ from and agree with Google search results.
“We’re presenting (Bard) in a way that admits when it’s not confident,” Krawczyk said, explaining that the idea is to build users’ trust in generative AI by holding Bard accountable.
A third new feature allows users to invite others to Bard conversations.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
