Google tests AI chatbot

The chatbot, based on Google’s language model for dialogue applications (LaMDA), has been opened up to a group of testers.

It is set to be made available to the public in the coming weeks, Google said.

In a blog post on the company’s website, Google and Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai wrote: “Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models. It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, 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 will combine “external feedback” with its own testing to ensure the tool’s responses “meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information”, the company said.  

The move follows the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool in November last year, which has prompted dialogue about the role of AI-generated content in society. In January, Microsoft announced ‘a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment’ in OpenAI. 

ChatGPT has been criticised for its potential for plagiarism, with the tool able to generate content that appears to have been written by humans.

Market researchers have discussed the potential positive and negative impacts of generative AI on the industry, including analysing qualitative data at scale and proliferating false information. 

The Market Research Society is set to issue a guidance note on the topic of ChatGPT as part of a new series of standards documents focused on the ethical and legal implications of technology on research practice.