MetriNote – Google Introduces Conversational AI Service, Bard

Author: Beth Schultz, Vice President of Research and Principal Analyst

February 6, 2023 – Google announced that it opened Bard, an experimental conversational AI service, to trusted testers. Similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has captured the world’s attention since its preview release late last year, Bard’s purpose is to scour the web and serve up conversational responses—i.e., sounding as if a human wrote them rather than a chatbot—to any and every question that comes its way. For this conversational chatbot, Google uses next-generation language and conversation capabilities powered by its Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA). Unfortunately for Google, a promo touting Bard’s capabilities provides incorrect information—a snafu that sent shares of parent company Alphabet in a free fall. The company lost $100 billion in market capitalization on Wed., Feb. 8.