Google announced Tuesday that it will let more people interact with Bard, the artificial intelligence chatbot the company is developing in response to Microsoft’s launch into a critical technology battleground.
In the next phase of Bard, Google will open a waiting list to use an artificial intelligence tool similar to the ChatGPT technology that Microsoft began rolling out last month with much fanfare on its Bing search engine. And last week, Microsoft integrated more AI-powered technology into its word processing, spreadsheet and slideshow programs with a new feature called Copilot.
Until now, Bard was only available to a small group of “trusted testers” selected by Google. The Mountain View, California-based company, owned by Alphabet Inc., did not say how many people will have access to Bard in its next phase of development. Early applicants will be limited to the US and UK before Google rolls out Bard in more countries.
Google is treading carefully in rolling out its artificial intelligence tools, in part because it stands to lose the most if the technology provides inaccurate information or leads its users down dark corridors. That’s because Google’s dominant search engine has become the gateway to the internet for billions of people, raising the risk of a backlash that could tarnish its image and undermine its ad-based business if the technology does not work properly.
Despite technological hurdles, Bard continues to offer “incredible benefits” such as “boosting human productivity, creativity, and curiosity,” two vice presidents, Sissie Hsiao and Eli Collins, wrote with assistance from Bard, according to a Google blog post.
As a precaution, Google is limiting the amount of interaction that can occur between Bard and its users, a tactic Microsoft imposed with ChatGPT after media coverage detailed instances in which the technology compared an Associated Press reporter to Hitler. and tried to persuade a New York Times journalist to divorce his wife.