Google shows off more of what its ChatGPT competitor Bard can do
Prabhakar Raghavan, of Google Inc., speaks during the company’s Cloud Next ’18 event in San Francisco, California, July 24, 2018.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Google’s Search boss, Prabhakar Raghavan, shared some fresh examples of its new conversational technology Bard in a livestreamed event in Paris on Wednesday. Bard is Google’s competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI.
The presentation followed an event Tuesday where Microsoft announced OpenAI’s GPT technology would be integrated into the homepage of its search product Bing.
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Raghavan showed slides with new examples of Bard’s capabilities during a brief presentation. One slide showed how Bard can be used to display the pros and cons of buying an electric car, for example, and to plan a trip in Northern California.
“Let’s say you’re in the market for a new car, one that’s a good fit for your family,” Raghavan said. “Bard can help you think through different angles to consider from budget to safety and more, and simplify and make sense of them.”
He showed how Bard might offer the pros and cons of electric cars, too.
The first bullet under “pros” said: “Electric cars produce zero emissions when driving, which is better than a gas powered car for the environment. Gas cars produce emissions that contribute to climate change.” “They are generally cheaper to operate,” read the second bullet point. “They don’t require oil changes or tune-ups and they have fewer moving parts, so there’s less that can go wrong.”
The first bullet under “cons” stated: “Electric cars have more limited driving range, depending on the size of battery.” The second bullet states “Charging an electric car can take a while, especially if you use a public charging station.”
He showed another slide suggesting how Bard might plan a road trip. “I think our first longer drive will be from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, can you suggest a few stops along the way?”
Bard provided a list of four stops between the two locations, including Half Moon Bay, Pescadero and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, with a sentence describing each. “Stop by Pigeon Point Lighthouse to catch a great view,” one description says.
The latest examples come after Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday publicly announced Google’s new conversation technology Bard that’s powered by its artificial intelligence and would be integrated into search, which confirmed CNBC’s original reporting. The company is opening Bard to select testers in the coming weeks before launching widely.
But, reports have also pointed out that Bard, like other AI tools, can be inaccurate. A recent advertisement for Google’s service showed Bard offering the incorrect description of the telescope used to take the first pictures of a planet outside our solar system, for example. A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ad.
Pichai told employees the company will require all workers to test Bard in a hackathon-like style as it faces pressure from investors and employees to compete with ChatGPT, the chatbot from Microsoft-backed OpenAI that took the public by storm when it launched late last year.
Tik Tok creators gather before a press conference to voice their opposition to the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 12, 2024.
Craig Hudson | Reuters
The Supreme Court on Friday will hear oral arguments in the case involving the future of TikTok in the U.S., which could ban the popular app as soon as next week.
The justices will consider whether the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the law that targets TikTok’s ban and imposes harsh civil penalties for app “entities” that continue to carry the service after Jan.19, violates the U.S. Constitution’s free speech protections.
It’s unclear when the court will hand down a decision, and if China’s ByteDance continues to refuse to divest TikTok to an American company, it faces a complete ban nationwide.
What will change about the user experience?
The roughly 115 million U.S. TikTok monthly active users could face a range of scenarios depending on when the Supreme Court hands down a decision.
If no word comes before the law takes effect on Jan. 19 and the ban goes through, it’s possible that users would still be able to post or engage with the app if they already have it downloaded. However, those users would likely be unable to update or redownload the app after that date, multiple legal experts said.
Thousands of short-form video creators who generate income from TikTok through ad revenue, paid partnerships, merchandise and more will likely need to transition their businesses to other platforms, like YouTube or Instagram.
“Shutting down TikTok, even for a single day, would be a big deal, not just for people who create content on TikTok, but everyone who shares or views content,” said George Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute who helped write the institute’s amicus briefs on the case.
“It sets a really dangerous precedent for how we regulate speech online,” Wang said.
Who supports and opposes the ban?
Dozens of high-profile amicus briefs from organizations, members of Congress and President-elect Donald Trump were filed supporting both the government and ByteDance.
The government, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleges that until ByteDance divests TikTok, the app remains a “powerful tool for espionage” and a “potent weapon for covert influence operations.”
Trump’s brief did not voice support for either side, but it did ask the court to oppose banning the platform and allow him to find a political resolution that allows the service to continue while addressing national security concerns.
The short-form video app played a notable role in both Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ presidential campaigns in 2024, and it’s one of the most common news sources for younger voters.
In a September Truth Social post, Trump wrote in all caps Americans who want to save TikTok should vote for him. The post was quoted in his amicus brief.
What comes next?
It’s unclear when the Supreme Court will issue its ruling, but the case’s expedited hearing has some predicting that the court could issue a quick ruling.
The case will have “enormous implications” since TikTok’s user base in the U.S. is so large, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law.
“It’s unprecedented for the government to prohibit platforms for speech, especially one so many people use,” Chemerinsky said. “Ultimately, this is a tension between free speech issues on the one hand and claims of national security on the other.”
WATCH: It appears TikTok could really get shut down, says Jim Cramer
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