It took a little more than two months for ChatGPT to attract more than 100 million users and to wake a sleeping giant.
On Monday, Alphabet and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai announced in a blog post a new conversational artificial intelligence service called Bard.
With the announcement, the world's third-largest technology company by market capital is taking direct aim at its next largest rival, Microsoft, which has ploughed at least $11 billion into ChatGPT, the viral AI service created by the non-profit OpenAI.
The new tool from Google begs the question: how is it different from ChatGPT?
Bard's features
Bard is expected to render stories just like this one obsolete. This is, after all, a news article written to answer the questions readers most likely will search for on Google about Bard.
Perhaps you ran a Google search on “Bard ChatGPT” or “how is google new thing different ChatGPT”.
Hopefully, this story ranked near the top to answer these queries.
Writing this story is a way of generating traffic for The National while — in my defence — addressing a societal need of informing the public in an accurate and timely way.
It is a story optimised for search engines such as Google. The search engine is often the first stop for people to gain access to news these days and it is a powerful traffic generator for media sites.
I admit, I consulted with our dedicated search engine optimisation (SEO) editor before I even began writing to make sure we were producing a story that would show up in popular Google searches.
This sort of publishing gamesmanship drives much of the content produced online today.
With Bard, it appears those days may be numbered as Google's search engine changes to incorporate a new large language model (LLM).
The LLM will be capable of drawing on “information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses”, according to Mr Pichai. The screenshot below, from the blog post, illustrates how queries may be answered in a conversational, text-heavy way at the very top of Google Search results.
As technology writer Casey Newton put it in his Platformer newsletter: “Google’s blog post suggests that their SEO-bait posts are about to be downranked anyway, whether they are generated by an AI or not. Bard will soon be taking your questions first, and publishers’ answers — whether they are written by human, robot, or something else — can all fight for second place”.
Ranking first in Google Search is a big deal. Data from firstpage.com found that ranking No 1 means about 40 per cent of people will click on that link. This is more than double the click-rate for second and a fourfold increase from ranking third.
It appears Bard will replace this ranking altogether, putting itself first with a narrative-style answer.
How does Bard differ from ChatGPT?
Bard has the advantage in terms of reach, access to information and the types of media it offers.
ChatGPT is often over-capacity, sometimes plagiarises its answers and confidently flubs math problems. That is to say, it is flawed. But it is still capable of producing thoughtful, accurate answers to a wide variety of topics. Microsoft plans to integrate the product with its search engine Bing.
In terms of market share, Bing accounts for less than one in 10 online searches while Google captures more than 80 per cent of the search market.
While ChatGPT has more than 100 million users, Google dwarfs that with one billion daily active users.
In that way, Bard is different from ChatGPT in terms of its potential reach and the amount of real-time feedback such use will provide, which is one way of improving the tool.
Bard also uses a “lightweight” version of Google's Language Model for Dialogue Application (LaMDA) AI model, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT currently relies on GPT-3.5.
“This much-smaller model requires significantly less computing power, enabling us to scale to more users, allowing for more feedback," Mr Pichai wrote.
Google's AI tool has access to real-time information while ChatGPT relies on training on data that ends in 2021. Microsoft has said it plans to use GPT-4 for its Bing integration, which may bring the two products closer together in terms of data quality.
Bard will produce more than text. While details are still vague, it will eventually have a multimedia element, providing information “from language and images to videos and audio”.
Is it out yet?
Yes and no. The California-based company said it would give “trusted testers” access to the new service in the beginning and will make it available to the wider public “in the coming weeks”.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
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The bio:
Favourite holiday destination: I really enjoyed Sri Lanka and Vietnam but my dream destination is the Maldives.
Favourite food: My mum’s Chinese cooking.
Favourite film: Robocop, followed by The Terminator.
Hobbies: Off-roading, scuba diving, playing squash and going to the gym.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
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Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
VERSTAPPEN'S FIRSTS
Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014)
Youngest driver to start an F1 race (17 years 166 days – Australia 2015)
Youngest F1 driver to score points (17 years 180 days - Malaysia 2015)
Youngest driver to lead an F1 race (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest driver to set an F1 fastest lap (19 years 44 days – Brazil 2016)
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Youngest F1 winner (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest multiple F1 race winner (Mexico 2017/18)
Youngest F1 driver to win the same race (Mexico 2017/18)
