Google Bard Vs ChatGPT

It’s the war of the chatbots, and Google Bard and ChatGPT are two of the main contenders in the ring.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots, such as Google Bard and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, use advanced generative AI technology and employ conversational techniques, such as natural language processing (NLP), to comprehend user inquiries and deliver intelligent responses in return.

Becoming rapidly ingrained in global daily life, the popularity of these chatbots has soared as a result of their accessibility, ability to be informative, and increasing human-like intelligence.

In this regard, Google Bard and ChatGPT are no exception, yet the question remains: in a face-off between these two chatbot titans, which one will come out on top?

The Starring Role of AI Chatbots

 
It’s no overstatement to say chatbots such as Google Bard and ChatGPT have come to have a starring role in our daily lives.

Despite their recent surge in popularity, AI chatbots are far from novel. The first of its kind was crafted by Joseph Weisenbaum in the 1960s and stands in stark contrast to the contemporary dominators in this realm. Even a brief analysis of Weisenbaum’s creation versus today’s chatbots shows the transformative effect on time on AI innovations.

Chatbots’ popularity surge cannot be attributed to any one factor. By their own intelligent nature, they are multifaceted in purpose and functions. Not only do they excel at communicating with people, but the practical purposes they offer have also contributed to their success in the workplace.

AI chatbots can play a part in a plethora of industries. As they can generate original text, chatbots can assist in writing tasks – reducing the necessary time and effort by easily producing summaries or drafting necessary documents. They can even assist in data analytics and, due to their NLP features, can help in Human Resources (HR) and customer service departments.

Consequently, not only can Large Language Models (LLMs) such as Bard and ChatGPT help to answer your day-to-day questions and hold up a regular conversation when needed, but they can also help companies around the world become more streamlined and efficient.

In The Ring: Chatbot Contenders

 
Examining Google Bard and ChatGPT may initially reveal a lot of similarities. But lest we forget that Google positioned Bard as its response to the triumphant success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with each trying to outdo the other ever since.

Now, with both contenders in the chatbot arena, closer inspection reveals how each has innovated distinct approaches to become the top dog of AI tools.

But first, let’s dive in and explore these two chatbots.

ChatGPT

 
Launched in November 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT certainly made its mark on life as we knew it.

A few years ago, it may have been difficult to imagine a type of technology that could not only hold up a conversation with the subtleties of humour and nuance with ease but actually learn from our interactions to become more intelligent as they go. But that’s just what ChatGPT achieved.

The AI chatbot immediately went viral and amassed one million users within the first five days of its launch, according to a tweet from its CEO Sam Altman.

Having launched its first iteration model, GPT-1 in 2018, ChatGPT as we know it today has been a labour of love for OpenAI. The current GPT-4 model provides an improved user experience, notably offering better factual accuracy due to being able to search the Internet in real-time (having just been able to offer data up to September 2021).

ChatGPT is already being used widely in education, content creation, entertainment and art, and customer service, with its success spearheading an unprecedented wave of interest in the research and development of LLMs.

Google Bard

 
With the launch of Google’s Gemini AI in its Bard chatbot, Google Bard is back all over our headlines.

Launched in March 2023, Bard is Google’s conversational AI tool. Like other chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Bard can assist with writing, coding, and numerical problems. Its purpose is to allow Google users to receive more refined answers, as opposed to needing to scroll through numerous web pages.

Built on LaMDA, Google’s AI language model software, Bard is different from other LLMs such as ChatGPT and Bing Chat which both operate off the GPT language model.

Despite having a rocky entrance onto the scene (famously providing inaccurate information about the James Webb Space Telescope) as Bard struggled to answer basic questions, had a long waiting time and didn’t provide sources for its answers, one could attribute this to teething problems.

Today, having had a few months to settle in, Bard has notably developed and, subsequently, garnered increasing popularity. Now, its launch of Gemini demonstrates Google’s ability to charter new territory in multimodal capabilities, paving the way for new types of innovative AI applications.

Bard Vs ChatGPT: The Verdict

 
When it comes to pitting these two AI chatbots against each other, it’s difficult to name one victor. After all, each is arguably better for different purposes. Nonetheless, one can lay out a showdown between them so that others may decide for themselves based on the facts.

Perhaps Bard’s most impressive feature has been its ability to develop in such a short space of time. Despite having only been launched in March, Google has already brought out several Bard upgrades and extensions that allow you to, for example, pull together your Google apps like Gmail and Google Docs so you can use them simultaneously with the help of Bard.

Bard has also been praised for its simple and accurate responses (initial inaccuracies aside). Unlike other chatbots, Bard was trained in conversational data, allowing it to make arguably more human-like responses. Plus, Bard employs human reviewers to help improve the quality of its answers.

A further popular feature is Bard’s multimodal search option, allowing users to input pictures as well as text in the chatbot. For example, you can show Bard a picture as a prompt, and it can analyse and explain what is happening in that picture. Bard can also answer textual questions with photos to better exemplify what is it describing.

Bard is also available in over 40 languages, whilst ChatGPT is primarily designed to understand and generate text in English, making it more user-friendly on a global scale.

Nonetheless, ChatGPT offers plenty of benefits that consistently captivate millions of users every day. Particularly on its new GPT version, ChatGPT reflects a heightened level of maturity and intelligence, though it’s worth noting that users must pay monthly to use GPT-4.

Much like Bard, ChatGPT has integrated image-processing capabilities, enabling the analysis of input images for responsive interactions. The platform has also prioritised a more personalised user experience, allowing users to craft and share their own iterations of ChatGPT with the latest GPT update.

Additionally, ChatGPT’s introduction of “Prompt examples” helps to facilitate more targeted conversations with users.

The GPT-4 setting also addresses the growing concern about the spread of AI misinformation, aiming to generate responses that are less likely to be harmful or offensive.

Perhaps the biggest issue of ChatGPT, and the most prominent advantage of Bard, is that ChatGPT pulls answers from research integrated by its training data, meaning its responses can be a bit dated. Bard, on the other hand, can search the web in real time for answers, ensuring its responses remain up-to-date and accurate (most of the time).

Furthermore, to have access to up-to-date data and image capabilities, users need to pay for a more developed version of ChatGPT. So, a lot of the user experience will be down to how willing you are to pay for the privilege of a better chatbot.

Nevertheless, when it comes to their generative AI capabilities, these chatbots seem relatively well-matched. And, given you do pay for GPT-4, both offer well-developed image-processing capabilities.

Regarding the answers they give, both offer intelligence and well-detailed responses to prompts. Whilst Bard may offer more up-to-date information, it’s all drawn from the internet (which we all know not to believe all the time) so can offer some unreliable information, prompting some to argue that ChatGPT offers better, if not a little out-of-date, responses.

So, ultimately, it’s up to you!

Trying both chatbots to see which better suits your needs is a worthwhile endeavour, and perhaps the only way of truly deciding which bot comes out on top.

In the meantime, we can look forward to even greater progressions in the generative AI space. Just think – with such progressions taken in the chatbot space within the last year alone, what do we have to look forward to next as we cast our eyes to 2024?