Google testing ChatGPT-like products, including chatbot ‘Apprentice Bard’

Google is testing ChatGPT-like products, which use its LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) technology, media reports said.

Under new AI-powered chat products, the tech giant is testing a chatbot called “Apprentice Bard,” where employees can ask questions and receive detailed answers similar to ChatGPT, also a new search desktop design that could be used in a question-and-answer form, reports CNBC, citing sources.

The testing follows an all-hands meeting where employees expressed concerns about the company`s competitive edge in AI, given the sudden popularity of ChatGPT, created by OpenAI, a Microsoft-backed startup.

Moreover, Google`s parent company Alphabet is working on a project under its cloud unit called Atlas, which is a “code red” response to ChatGPT, the large-language chatbot that took the public by storm late last year, said the report.

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Further, it mentioned that Apprentice Bard, which looks similar to ChatGPT, includes a feature in which answers can include recent events, which ChatGPT doesn`t have yet.

“As a result of ChatGPT, the LaMDA team has been asked to prioritise working on a response to ChatGPT,” read one internal memo viewed by CNBC.

“In the short term, it takes precedence over other projects,” the email said.

Apprentice Bard took the place of “Meena”, a previous version of a smart chatbot that had been launched internally but was later discontinued, said the report.

Meanwhile, Microsoft announced a multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI, the developer behind AI-driven ChatGPT which has become a rage.The tech giant, which infused $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019, did not divulge the investment amount in the “third phase of our long-term partnership with OpenAI”. Earlier reports had claimed Microsoft may infuse up to $10 billion in OpenAI.