Google’s CEO Addresses Bard’s Performance
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has acknowledged criticism of the company’s AI chatbot Bard and promises improvements are on the way. Bard, Google’s experimental chatbot, has not performed as well as its competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing chatbot. Pichai explained that Bard is running on a lightweight version of LaMDA, and Google will soon upgrade it to more capable PaLM models.
Bard’s Initial Struggles and Comparisons
Released on March 21st, Bard has struggled to gain the same attention and acclaim as its rivals. Users have found Bard’s responses to be less fluent, imaginative, and reliable than ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing chatbot. Pichai compares Bard’s current state to a souped-up Civic racing against more powerful cars.
Caution Behind Bard’s Limited Capabilities
Pichai suggests that Google’s cautious approach might have contributed to Bard’s limited capabilities. The company wanted to ensure they could handle a more capable model before releasing it to the public. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have been involved in the development process, discussing the work with Pichai.
Concerns Over AI Development Speed
Many in the AI and tech communities have expressed concerns about the rapid development of AI systems, by OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. An open letter signed by Elon Musk and top AI researchers called for a six-month pause on AI development. Pichai believes that there is merit to these concerns, emphasizing the need for debate and regulation in the AI space.
Debate Over Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
Some experts argue that current AI programs are approaching artificial general intelligence (AGI), which refers to systems as capable as humans across various tasks. Pichai acknowledges the potential dangers of AI systems causing disinformation at scale and emphasizes the need for AI safety to address these concerns.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/podcasts/hard-fork-sundar.html