Google Shows Off AI Advancements, in Search Results and Beyond

Google didn’t provide much of an update on its AI chatbot. We already knew it had entered testing with a small group of “trusted” demo users, using a light version of the company’s LaMDA language model. And for now, that’s still the case.

Next month, Google said it will begin onboarding developers to interact with its generative language API to build their own tools and features.

Google’s recent rush to forefront AI is an obvious response to the rise of ChatGPT, and Microsoft’s swift investment in a multi-billion dollar partnership with OpenAI. On Tuesday, Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing search engine went live for a preview. Similar to Google, Microsoft also seems to be both offering an AI-chatbot option, separate from standard search, as well as AI-responses integrated into search.

At the moment, Microsoft appears to be taking a more aggressive approach to its AI-search responses. In an example on the company’s blog—a search for fitness advice yields a step-by-step workout plan that’s AI-generated, alongside standard video and link results. Whereas Google seems to be taking a more cautious approach—not using generative-AI to present definitive answers or guidance.

“We were one of the first companies to embrace AI principles,” Google’s Raghavan said. But he emphasized that the Google’s philosophy to developing generative-AI tools for the public is to be “bold and responsible.” As the legacy search engine dominator, Google has a reputation to uphold. Whereas Bing can likely be a little more free-wheeling in Microsoft’s bid for a real stake in the long-monopolized search space.

That said, Google has already made a pretty astounding error in advertising Bard. The promo (shown above, and featured on Google’s blog and Twitter account), contains a glaring inaccuracy.