Google Bard: the (late) answer to ChatGPT

Four months after ChatGPT, Google opens Bard in waitlist for the US and UK. It's Google's first consumer-facing conversational chatbot, based on a lightweight version of LaMDA (the model that's been running inside Google for years).

Reception is lukewarm. Bard is more cautious, often gives generic answers, isn't as good at math or coding as ChatGPT, and sometimes flubs basic facts. The February demo had already produced a public gaffe about the James Webb telescope, costing Google $100B in market cap in one day.

Still, it's the signal that Google is moving. From here on the "AI race" is official: every Big Tech needs its own chatbot. Bard will be renamed Gemini in February 2024.