Google’s new ‘Bard’ chatbot reportedly delivered inaccurate information to a question focused on telescopes.
Google (GOOGL) – Get Free Report shares fell sharply lower Wednesday after the digital search group posted an online ad, powered by its new AI technology, that provided incorrect information, according to a Reuters report.
Google ran the as part of a demonstration of its new “Bard’ technology, an AI-driven chatbot that provides online responses to voice-activated inquiries, ahead of a launch event in Paris hosted by Google senior vice president Prabhakar Raghava that promised to “bring generative AI technologies into our products.”
The ad included a prompt that asked “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year old about?” One of the replies, that suggested the Telescope was used to take the first ‘exoplanet’ photos — ie, pictures of plants beyond the earth’s solar system — in history.
That distinction, however, belongs to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, which recorded the first exoplanet photos in 2004.
Stock Market Today: Stocks Edge Lower As Powell Rally Fades; Treasury Yields Hold Steady
Google shares were marked 8.5% lower in late-morning trading Wednesday, against a 1.6% decline for the Nasdaq, to change hands at $98.50 each.
The reported error comes as Google faces the sternest test of its search market dominance in years following the launch late Tuesday of Microsoft’s (MSFT) – Get Free Report revamped Bing search engine, which is powered by a next level AI chatbot known as ChatGPT.
Microsoft said it will embed the newer version of ChatGPT, a tool that uses human language to process instructions, in both its Edge internet browser and Bing search engine over the coming months.
Developed by OpenAI, which unveiled a multi-billion investment from Microsoft earlier this year, ChatGPT is expected to transform the group’s search market share while adding billions to its top and bottom line.
The move to bring AI-powered technology into the search and ad market was echoed earlier this week by market leader Google, which unveiled the test launch of ‘Bard’ earlier this week. Google parent Alphabet generated around $43 billion in search-related revenues last quarter, compared to just $3.2 billion for Microsoft.
