Google supercharges Bard as OpenAI’s ChatGPT leads chatbot race

Alphabet Inc’s Google announced on Tuesday that Bard, its generative artificial intelligence, is being equipped with the capability to fact-check responses and analyse users’ personal Google data, CNN reported. 

This move is part of Google’s efforts to keep up with the popularity of ChatGPT.

The debut of ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, last year triggered a competitive race within the tech industry to provide consumers with access to generative AI technology. 

At the time, ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history and currently ranks among the top 30 websites globally.

However, Bard hasn’t experienced the same level of success.

 In August, it received 183 million visits, which is only 13% of what ChatGPT received, according to Similarweb, a website analytics firm.

To make headway in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, Google is introducing Bard Extensions, allowing users to import their data from other Google products. 

For example, users can request Bard to search their files in Google Drive or provide a summary of their Gmail inbox.

For now, Bard users will only be able to pull information in from Google apps, but Google is working with external companies to connect their applications to Bard in the future, Google senior product director Jack Krawczyk said.

Another new feature in Bard seeks to alleviate a nagging problem for generative AI: inaccurate responses known as “hallucinations”. 

Bard users will be able to see which parts of Bard’s answers differ from and agree with Google search results.

“We are presenting (Bard) in a way that it admits when it’s not confident,” Krawczyk said, explaining that the intention is to build users’ trust in generative AI by holding Bard accountable.

A third new feature allows users to invite others into Bard conversations.