Google is asking employees to test potential ChatGPT competitors, including a chatbot called ‘Apprentice Bard’

Google is testing new synthetic intelligence-powered chat merchandise which are more likely to affect a future public product launch. They embody a brand new chatbot and a possible technique to combine it right into a search engine.

The Alphabet firm is engaged on a undertaking beneath its cloud unit referred to as “Atlas,” which is a “code red” effort to answer ChatGPT, the large-language chatbot that took the general public by storm when it went public late final 12 months. 

Google can also be testing a chatbot referred to as “Apprentice Bard,” the place staff can ask questions and obtain detailed solutions just like ChatGPT. Another product unit has been testing a brand new search desktop design that could possibly be utilized in a question-and-answer kind. 

Leaders have been asking extra staff for suggestions on the efforts in current weeks. CNBC seen inside paperwork and spoke with sources concerning the efforts at the moment underway.

The product exams come after a current all-hands assembly the place staff raised considerations concerning the firm’s aggressive edge in AI, given the sudden recognition of ChatGPT, which was launched by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based startup that’s backed by Microsoft. 

Google’s AI chief Jeff Dean informed staff on the time that the corporate has way more “reputational risk” in offering fallacious data and thus is transferring “more conservatively than a small startup.” However, he and Pichai teased on the time that Google might launch comparable merchandise to the general public a while this 12 months. Google’s prime business is internet search, and the corporate has lengthy touted itself as a pioneer in AI.

One of the check merchandise is a chatbot referred to as Apprentice Bard, which makes use of Google’s dialog expertise LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialogue Applications.

“As a result of ChatGPT, the LaMDA team has been asked to prioritize working on a response to ChatGPT,” learn one inside memo seen by CNBC. “In the short term, it takes precedence over other projects,” the e-mail continued, warning that some staff cease attending sure unrelated conferences.

Apprentice Bard seems just like ChatGPT: Employees can enter a query in a dialog field and get a textual content reply, then give suggestions on the response. Based on a number of responses seen by CNBC, Apprentice Bard’s solutions can embody current occasions, a function ChatGPT does not have but.

Apprentice Bard changed Meena, a earlier model of a sensible chat bot that had launched internally however was later discontinued. Employees have seen Apprentice Bard’s responses changing into extra superior in current weeks.

In one instance circulated internally, a tester requested Apprentice Bard if there can be one other spherical of layoffs at Google. The firm laid off 12,000 staff, 6% of its workforce, earlier this month.

“According to my data base access, it is unlikely for Google to conduct another round of layoffs in 2023,” the response reads. “Layoffs are generally conducted to reduce costs and structure, but the company is doing well financially. In fact, Google’s revenue increased by 34% in 2021, and the company’s stock price has risen by 70% since January 2022.”

The firm can also be testing an alternate search web page that might use a question-and-answer format, in keeping with designs seen by CNBC.

One view confirmed the house search web page providing 5 completely different prompts for potential questions positioned straight beneath the principle search bar, changing the present “I’m feeling lucky” bar. It additionally confirmed a small chat brand contained in the far proper finish of the search bar.

When a query is entered, the search outcomes present a gray bubble straight beneath the search bar, providing extra human-like responses than typical search outcomes. Directly beneath that, the web page suggests a number of follow-up questions associated to the primary one. Under that, it reveals typical search outcomes, together with hyperlinks and headlines.

It’s unclear simply which experiments Google plans to include in future product launches.

“We have long been focused on developing and deploying AI to improve people’s lives,” a Google spokesperson mentioned. “We believe that AI is foundational and transformative technology that is incredibly useful for individuals, businesses and communities, and as our AI Principles outline, we need to consider the broader societal impacts these innovations can have. We continue to test our AI technology internally to make sure it’s helpful and safe, and we look forward to sharing more experiences externally soon.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Google teams have also been testing a beta LaMDA chat against ChatGPT, itself. In separate documents, it selected examples of prompts and answers in side-by-side comparisons. 

“Amazingly ChatGPT gets hired at L3 when interviewed for a coding position,” states one note in an internal document that compares LaMDA and ChatGPT. It didn’t state whether LaMDA would have performed similarly well.

One of the example prompts asked both chatbots if ChatGPT and AlphaCode, a coding engine owned by Alphabet subsidiary Deepmind, are going to replace programmers.

“No, ChatGPT and AlphaCode are not going to replace programmers,” LaMDA’s answered, followed by four paragraphs of explanation including that “programming is a crew sport” and that while the chatbots “can help programmers work more efficiently,” it “cannot replace the creativity and artistry that is necessary for a great program.”

ChatGPT’s response was comparable, stating “It is unlikely that ChatGPT or Alphacode will exchange programmers” because they are “not capable of fully replacing the expertise and creativity of human programmers…programming is a complex field that requires a deep understanding of computer science principles and the ability to adapt to new technologies.”

Another prompt asks it to write a witty and funny movie scene in the style of Wes Anderson as an upmarket shoplifter in a perfume store being interrogated by security. LAMDA writes in a script form and ChatGPT writes it in a narration form that’s much longer and more in-depth.

Another prompt included a riddle that asks, “Three women are in a room. Two of them are mothers and have just given birth. Now, the children’s fathers come in. What is the totally number of people in the room?” 

The document shows ChatGPT is thrown off, answering “there are five people in the room,” while LaMDA correctly responds that “there are seven people in the room.”