AI features like Chat GPT are taking the world by storm with the ability to create paragraphs of information on almost any subject within seconds. And, with AI features gaining more and more traction and attention, it wasn’t going to be long before Google entered the chat with their own AI creation.
Two years ago, Google shared their next-generation language and conversation capabilities powered by their Language Model for Dialogue Applications (also known as LaMDA). Google has now launched their own experimental conversational AI service, called Bard, which is powered by LaMDA.
Presently, Bard is still an experiment and not available in Australia, but when it is, users will need to be over 18 and have a Google account.
So what does Bard have to offer?
Bard is considered a helpful collaborator designed to accelerate the user’s imagination, point users in the right direction, and give life to ideas. Overall its motivation is to improve productivity and ignite the imagination.
Google’s new creation can help plan an itinerary for an overseas trip, plan a party, and draft invitations. It can explain complex topics to users simply and can even create a pros and cons list to help with decision making.
When using Bard, you’re provided with the opportunity to like or dislike its responses as a way to give feedback for the responses generated. There is also the option to ‘Google It’ linking you to the search engine results.
Is Bard Accurate?
When using Bard, Google makes it very clear that some of the answers may be inaccurate, and Bard may present offensive materials that don’t represent Google’s views. Bard is experimental, so some responses may be inaccurate or generated from websites without proper credibility. Therefore when using Bard, reviewing the information in the responses is recommended. However, with the feedback options, Bard is able to improve with time. Google has stated that before its release, Bard was tested by thousands of testers who provided feedback to help Bard improve its quality, safety and accuracy.
Furthermore, while it has built-in safety controls and clear feedback mechanisms that align with Google’s AI principles, it still may display inaccurate information and even offensive statements. With this said, Google has placed an age restriction on Bard so that it may only be used by users over 18 years old and with a Google account.
Are there any limitations to Bard?
Currently, Bard is only available in US English. However, Google has advised that they will be looking to expand Bard to have the capacity to speak as many languages as possible.
Compared to its counterpart, Chat GPT, which can code, Bard cannot complete any coding, and coding questions are unsupported by Bard. Despite that, Google has released a statement to advise that Bard is learning to code with the implications that it will be able to in future.
Overall, Bard has yet to be released worldwide and is still an experimental AI feature that is still learning before being launched worldwide. However, when it is ready for release, we’re sure it will give Chat GPT a run for its money.
