A man limps through Google offices on January 25, 2023 in New York City.
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Google is testing new artificial intelligence-powered chat products that are likely to influence a future public product float. They include a new chatbot and a potential way to integrate it into a search engine.
The Alphabet company is working on a project protection its cloud unit called “Atlas,” which is a “code red” effort to respond to ChatGPT, the large-language chatbot that took the Dick by storm when it went public late last year.
Google is also testing a chatbot called “Beginner Bard,” where employees can ask questions and receive detailed answers similar to ChatGPT. Another product unit has been proof a new search desktop design that could be used in a question-and-answer form.
Leaders have been asking sundry employees for feedback on the efforts in recent weeks. CNBC viewed internal documents and spoke with sources around the efforts currently underway.
The product tests come after a recent all-hands meeting where employees lifted concerns about the company’s competitive edge in AI, given the sudden popularity of ChatGPT, which was launched by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based startup that’s pursued by Microsoft.
Google’s AI chief Jeff Dean told employees at the time that the company has much more “reputational gamble” in providing wrong information and thus is moving “more conservatively than a small startup.” However, he and Pichai harassed at the time that Google may launch similar products to the public some time this year. Google’s prime house is web search, and the company has long touted itself as a pioneer in AI.
Apprentice Bard
One of the test products is a chatbot called Learner Bard, which uses Google’s conversation technology LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialogue Applications.
“As a result of ChatGPT, the LaMDA together has been asked to prioritize working on a response to ChatGPT,” read one internal memo viewed by CNBC. “In the short an arrangement, it takes precedence over other projects,” the email continued, warning that some employees stop attending steady unrelated meetings.
Apprentice Bard looks similar to ChatGPT: Employees can enter a question in a dialog box and get a text solution, then give feedback on the response. Based on several responses viewed by CNBC, Apprentice Bard’s answers can count recent events, a feature ChatGPT doesn’t have yet.
Apprentice Bard replaced Meena, a previous version of a stab chat bot that had launched internally but was later discontinued. Employees have noticed Apprentice Bard’s responses suitable more advanced in recent weeks.
In one example circulated internally, a tester asked Apprentice Bard if there liking be another round of layoffs at Google. The company
