Is Google's Bard the new ChatGPT?

Google has finally broken its silence on its AI-based Bard, which is a direct response to the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT built by OpenAI.

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet, announced in a blog post that the search giant would soon start public testing its AI-based chatbot, Bard. Internet users have been speculating if OpenAI's chatbot is the future of web searches and if it will eventually overtake Google, which is currently the most widely used search engine in most of the world.

This article will assess Bard and determine whether it can overtake ChatGPT and allow Google to retain its near-monopoly as the best search giant.

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How is Bard different from ChatGPT, and what does it mean for the future of web searching

Google's Bard is a conversational chatbot, much like its OpenAI counterpart. It is based on the company's Language Model for Dialogue Application, abbreviated LaMDA. CEO Sundar Pichai described it as an "experimental conversational AI service.

Google's new AI chatbot is designed to provide "fresh, high-quality responses," much like the easily accessible yet in-depth answers that its OpenAI counterpart comes up with.

Unlike a simple search engine, which merely presents other websites that may have the answer to your queries, a chatbot attempts to present accurate responses in a human-like manner.

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Google's chatbot promises wider scope of possibilities than its competitor

Simply put, ChatGPT works on a neural network that encodes and decodes information similarly to human brains. It is fed information through language and taught to recognize patterns. The bot uses this information to predict future outcomes and generate responses.

The Google chatbot uses a different mechanism than OpenAI's venture. Firstly, while the latter only has access to the information fed to it by the developers (which is currently limited to the events till 2021), Bard will draw on resources available on the internet in real-time.

Secondly, due to LaMDA's structure, the Google chatbot can engage in open-ended conversations. These two factors will give Bard a slight edge over its rival.

Moreover, Google's chatbot is supposed to use a version of LaMDA that consumes less computing power. For those exasperated by ChatGPT's frequent overload errors, this might tip the scales in Google's favor. This, in turn, will also push the Microsoft-backed AI service to improve and work on its efficiency.

ChatGPT has been out for a while, but Microsoft's announcement about its integration with its Bing Search engine seems to have pushed Google to expedite the arrival of its LaMDA-powered chatbot.

It is too early to answer whether Bard will overtake ChatGPT and establish itself as the pinnacle of AI-based chatbots. However, competition on such a close horizon will certainly push both companies to innovate and perfect their products.