Google’s artificial intelligence bot, Bard, wiped £100 billion from the tech giant’s parent company, Alphabet, after it showed inaccurate information in a promotional video shared on Twitter.
Alphabet posted a video of Bard via Twitter, touting it as a ‘launch pad for curiosity’ to simplify complex topics.
Google’s new AI Chatbot bot was asked what to tell a nine-year-old about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its discoveries.
However, Bard responded by saying Webb was the first to take pictures of a planet outside of earth’s solar system. This was incorrect because it was actually done in 2004 by the European Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.
The incorrect answer caused the value of Alphabet to crash towards £ 1 trillion, The Daily Mail reported.
Chris Harrison, a fellow at Newcastle University, wrote: “Why didn’t you factcheck this example before sharing it?”
Chatbots, which was designed to mimic humans in online conversations, are often used by customer service teams to answer online queries.
The launch of ChatGPT demonstrated how developed the technology has become.
For example, ChatGPT has been used to write software, give relationship advice, and even pass exams and deliver a sermon.
The tool was trained on a gigantic sample of text from the internet to understand human language.
Earlier this week, Google unveiled its competitor tool Bard, which also answers users’ queries and participates in conversations.
But some tech experts expressed concern about whether such technologies are up to scratch due to incorrect information being delivered.
OpenAI admitted ChatGPT’s tendency to respond with ‘plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers,
The JWST gaffe from Google’s Bard highlights the struggle to overcome inaccuracies in their AI products.
“This highlights the importance of a rigorous testing process, something we’re kicking off this week,” a Google spokesperson said.
“We’ll combine external feedback with our internal testing to make sure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information.”
Alphabet disappointed investors after it failed to provide details on how it will compete with Microsoft in this area.
Microsoft announced a ‘multi-billion-dollar investment’ in OpenAI last month, set up by Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
The creator of the Windows operating system unveiled its new Bing search engine, which incorporates the AI chatbot.
A demo version of the updated website is currently live and consists of a number of pre-set search terms available to try out the new feature.
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