Google’s ChatGPT Competitors: The Rise of the Search Bot and Apprentice Bard

According to CNBC, Google personnel have been testing various possible ChatGPT rivals as part of the tech giant’s effort to produce a response to OpenAI’s technology. According to a recent New York Times story, Google CEO Sundar Pichai declared “code red” and pushed AI research in order to launch at least 20 AI-powered products this year. CNBC has already disclosed some of the things the business is developing, including “Apprentice Bard,” a chatbot that employs Google’s LaMDA communication engine.

According to reports, Google management urged the LaMDA team to prioritise work on a ChatGPT rival, informing them that it takes precedence over any other project and even forbidding them from attending irrelevant meetings. Apprentice Bard, according to reports, appears and performs similarly to ChatGPT in that a user may submit a query or prompt in a text box and then get a written answer.

CNBC claims to have seen samples indicating the bot’s responses contain information from current events — something ChatGPT isn’t capable of since it only has limited awareness of anything that occurred after 2021. In one case, Apprentice Bard was able to predict if Google would do another round of layoffs. (Unlikely for this year, it suggested, given the business’s financial success.) If you remember, Google’s LaMDA technology fired a former corporate engineer when he claimed it had achieved sentience.

Google is also said to be developing a new search page with a question-and-answer structure. The experimental home page replaces “I’m feeling fortunate” beneath the search bar with five possible question prompts. The website creates human-like replies in grey bubbles when a user fills in their question. Following those replies are recommended follow-up questions, which are followed by the standard search results with links and headlines. In addition, Alphabet’s cloud business is working on an “Atlas” project. While CNBC did not provide specifics, it is apparently part of Google’s “code red” operations.

At this time, it is unknown which of Google’s initiatives will be made public. During an all-hands meeting to discuss the company’s response to ChatGPT, Google AI chief Jeff Dean told employees that the company is moving “more conservatively than a small startup.” After all, providing people with incorrect information will have a much larger impact on a well-known company like Google. Indeed, The Times recently reported that when it comes to creating its search chatbot, Google prioritises safety, accuracy, and filtering out falsehoods. However, if rumours that Microsoft is integrating ChatGPT’s technology into Bing as soon as March are correct, we’ll also likely see Google’s search chatbot in the near future.