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| Google's campus next to headquarters in Mountain View, California. |
Google has been developing an AI chatbot dubbed Apprentice Bard that's comparable to ChatGPT, an online tool that in many ways is more beneficial than Google search, CNBC reported this week.
And we could see it soon. While delivering grim fourth-quarter financial numbers, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Google aims to make its own AI language model tools accessible to the public "in coming weeks and months."
ChatGPT employs artificial intelligence technology called a big language model, based on massive swathes of data on the internet. That sort of model employs an AI tool called a transformer that Google pioneered. ChatGPT's success in anything from building software, passing tests, and delivering advise, in the form of the King James Bible, on removing a sandwich from a VCR has thrust it into the tech limelight, even if its findings may be deceptive or erroneous.
Google's Apprentice Bard tool is similar to ChatGPT, but the firm also is experimenting a question-and-answer structure for Google search results, CNBC stated. Google Research chief Jeff Dean warned staff in a 2022 meeting that Google is being more cautious with its approach to minimize "reputational risk" of AI that gives terrible replies.
Google didn't comment on the details of the claim, but spokeswoman Lily Lin said in a statement, "We have always been focused on creating and implementing AI to enhance people's lives. ... We continue to test our AI technology internally to make sure it's useful and secure, and we look forward to sharing more experiences externally soon."
AI technology currently is all around us, aiding in everything from spotting credit card fraud to translating our voice into text messages. The ChatGPT technology has heightened expectations, however, so it's apparent the technology will become more significant in our lives one way or another as we depend on digital assistants and online tools.
Google AI subsidiary DeepMind also also engaged. Chief Executive Demis Hassabis told Time that his business is planning a 2023 private beta test of an AI chatbot dubbed Sparrow.
Google described transformers in 2017, and it's since become a feature of some of the largest AI systems out there. Nvidia's new H100 processor, the top dog in the world of AI acceleration at least in terms of public performance testing, now incorporates dedicated hardware to accelerate transformers.
The large language model (LLM) revolution in AI that ensued is important for language-specific systems like ChatGPT, Google's LaMDA and newer PaLM, and others from firms such AI21 Labs, Adept AI Labs and Cohere. But LLMs are employed for other jobs, too, like stacking boxes and analysing genetic data to look for novel medications. Notably, they're strong at creating text, which is why they may be employed for answering queries.
Google, which faced negative press with the departure of AI researcher Timnit Gebru in 2020, has a program concentrating on ethical AI and machine learning, or ML, technologies. "Building ML models and products in a responsible and ethical manner is both our core focus and core commitment," Google Research Vice President Marian Croak said in a January post.
Google is eager to promote its deep AI skills. ChatGPT caused a "code red" emergency inside Google, according to The New York Times, and brought Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin back into active work.
Editors' note: CNET is utilizing an AI engine to construct certain personal finance explainers that are reviewed and fact-checked by our editors. For more, check this post.