Google has introduced its own AI (artificial intelligence) product called Bard in response to ChatGPT, the AI product that has been allegedly bringing a Microsoft funded competitive threat to Google search.
In a previous newsletter, I wrote about how ChatGPT’s introduction serves as a reminder that companies should pay attention to how changing technology can impact their existing business, but they should be careful about pursuing new technology that does not fit with company strengths. Recognizing that AI still has problems like bias, my previous newsletter did not take a position on whether or not Google had moved too slowly with its introduction of an AI product to rival ChatGPT. The media had portrayed Google as moving too slowly with AI, thus allowing ChatGPT to be a competitive threat to Google’s dominance in search. But, Google did not want to risk its reputation on an AI product that still did not work well and had problems.
In the time since I wrote that newsletter, many examples of ChatGPT’s inaccuracies and biases have surfaced. This solidifies Google’s position of hesitancy, since AI is known to suffer from biases. Yet, Google did introduce its ChatGPT rival called Bard. The March 24, 2023 Wall Street Journal article “Google Launches ChatGPT Rival” reports that “Bard is designed to respond to written prompts using information sourced from websites such as Wikipedia and can handle follow-up questions in a conversational manner.” Bard has a button that connect users to Google for additional searching. The Wall Street Journal article says, “Early tests show Bard performs well on tasks such as summarizing passages and drafting emails (Google vice president) Ms. Hsiao added.”
As I see it, Google is going in the right direction from a strategy perspective regarding its response to ChatGPT. Google did respond to the competitive threat, but didn’t blindly follow with a competitive product overloaded with inaccuracies and biases. Google’s product may have some inaccuracies and biases, like all AI products typically still do. But, Google seems to be striving to preserve its reputation as an AI expert while also being a company that offers high quality products. And, since ChatGPT has exhibited many inaccuracies, Google’s slower, more quality oriented approach has success potential.
However, Microsoft’s Bing AI is now able to cite sources for what ChatGPT produces, which implies that Microsoft is already moving forward with what historically has been an important component of Google’s roots and strengths. Furthermore, of course, Google still needs to pay attention to how any new developments in AI can impact its search business. And, Google mustn’t get excessively side tracked with AI for driverless cars to the point where it misses new developments in how AI might change search.
