AI showdown: Why Google’s Bard could dethrone ChatGPT

Published Feb 8, 2023

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The race to AI supremacy is heating up with the world’s biggest tech names fighting for poll position. However, no bout has been more intense than that between ChatGPT and Google.

Created by San Francisco company OpenAI, ChatGPT was launched in November 2022 and amassed millions of users within the space of a few short weeks.

However, the AI-driven chatbot caught the attention of a community of users and formidable tech names, seeing the platform as a potential threat.

Its surge in popularity aside, ChatGPT is one of many AI platforms launched in recent months which offer complex results based on user inputs in natural, human-like feedback.

Much like other similar platforms, ChatGPT has been noted to increase productivity, especially among writers and developers, who can use it to create content and code.

Due to its popularity and highly useful functionality, ChatGPT has the potential to become more widely adopted, given the more detailed feedback from the platform, while making traditional web search engine results seem archaic.

In response to ChatGPT, Google said on Monday that it would soon release its rival to the chatbot named Bard, laying the foundation for the latest AI feud.

ChatGPT has also seen billions in investment from Microsoft – which, of course, is behind the already existing Google rival – Bing.

According to recent media reports, ChatGPT’s overnight success was labelled a “code red” threat at Google, so much so that the company’s retired co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were brought back to brainstorm ideas.

Can Bard overshadow ChatGPT?

Despite its functionality and ability to provide human-like text to questions asked, ChatGPT’s downside is that it does not access the internet in real-time. This is where Google hopes Bard will overtake the platform.

According to Google, Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with power, intelligence and creativity while drawing information from the web to provide high-quality responses.

“Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills,” Google said.

Why ChatGPT is a threat to rivals

While the lack of internet access may seem a major drawback, ChatGPT poses a real threat to search engines like Google, as the platform will likely not remain offline for good – coupled with functionality not found from other platforms.

With a database of over 10 billion documents, ChatGPT is able to scour through information, providing feedback in seconds, among a wider ray of results than any search engine – this is, however, limited to recently dated information.

Another major benefit of ChatGPT is the fact that it offers results through more natural feedback, mimicking human interaction.

While still in its infancy, ChatGPT has undoubtedly struck fear among rivals, even without access to the internet. Meanwhile, Bard is expected to be launched by Google in the coming weeks.

IOL Tech