Advertisement
In a bid to make artificial intelligence (AI) more accessible to a global audience, Google has unveiled an ambitious vision for its experimental chatbot, Bard. Google envisions Bard not only as a tool to assist users in brainstorming ideas but as a potential product capable of attracting a user base of two billion—a milestone achieved by only a select few in the tech industry.
Bard, powered by AI, is designed to provide personalized assistance in brainstorming ideas and retrieving information from the internet. Jack Krawczyk, Senior Director of Product at Google, highlighted the objective of democratizing AI during an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York. The overarching goal is to bring the power of AI to the average consumer in a manner that is both accessible and valuable.
To achieve this, Google plans to integrate Bard’s capabilities into Google Assistant, a widely used tool with a presence on over one billion devices, initially focusing on mobile devices. This strategic move is poised to broaden the application of AI and create a new path for user interaction with the technology.
While Google’s parent company, Alphabet, oversees six products, each with a user base in the billions, the AI landscape is becoming increasingly competitive. Amazon is enhancing its Alexa assistant with generative AI features, and OpenAI has introduced voice commands to its ChatGPT tool, highlighting the evolving nature of AI technologies.
Despite facing competition, Bard has seen a 2% increase in web traffic in October, reaching 8.7 million, according to Similar Web data cited by Reuters. This suggests a shift in consumer behavior towards using AI for information gathering. However, Bard has faced challenges, including instances of “hallucination” where the chatbot generates non-existent content, such as messages not present in a user’s Gmail inbox.
Acknowledging the challenges, Google is committed to improving Bard’s functionality and adapting it to effectively serve a large user base. Jack Krawczyk noted difficulties when a surge of users attempted to use Bard in “record numbers,” indicating a growing interest in AI-powered conversational interfaces. Interestingly, on the same day, OpenAI reported a significant outage in ChatGPT, underlining the heightened competition and demand for AI-driven solutions.
The increasing competitiveness in the AI space reflects the technology’s improved performance, accuracy, and efficiency. Advances in machine learning algorithms, powerful computing resources, and the exponential growth of available data contribute to the rising significance of AI across various industries. As AI continues to evolve, businesses that invest in and leverage these technologies stand to gain a competitive edge, making technology adoption imperative for staying ahead in the modern business landscape.