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Google is hoping its new Gemini AI model can revive fortunes for its conversational assistant Bard, after Bard’s lackluster performance failed to match the hype.
Bard launched earlier this year with much fanfare, touted as Google’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.
But users quickly found Bard’s responses to be limited, inaccurate, and prone to errors. This sparked widespread mockery on social media over Bard’s subpar capabilities compared to rivals.
However, Google is now integrating its powerful new Gemini AI model into Bard to address many of these deficiencies. The company claims Gemini outperforms top AI models like GPT-3.5 on several well-known benchmarks, especially for comprehension and reasoning.
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Google under pressure to catch up on AI
The upgrades will be rolled out in two stages: First, Google has tuned a version of Gemini Pro specifically for enhancing Bard’s conversational skills. This should improve Bard’s ability to understand questions and provide relevant, nuanced answers. That update is available starting today. Then, early next year, Bard will receive access to Gemini Ultra, Google’s largest and most advanced AI yet.
Google likely felt pressure to revamp Bard quickly after it became apparent that its initial AI model paled in comparison to chatbots like ChatGPT. Early reviews painted Bard as glitchy and limited, undermining Google’s reputation in AI. By upgrading to Gemini, Google aims to redeem Bard and prove it can compete in generative AI.
However, risks remain. Like all large language models, Gemini has potential for spreading misinformation and toxic content. Google claims it is thoroughly vetting Gemini, but monitoring AI safety remains challenging.
Still, if Gemini transforms Bard as promised, Google could regain lost ground against AI rivals. With such rapid advances in generative AI, the race for supremacy remains wide open. For now, Google is betting on Gemini to catapult Bard back into contention.
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