Google’s Bard, an AI chatbot, was rolled out in a hurry in late March as ChatGPT’s success threatened to snatch away the search-engine giant’s information seekers. Despite positive reviews from users, the chatbot has faced strong discontent from behind the scenes. A Bloomberg report based on an internal document, as well as 18 current and former Google employees, highlighted key areas of concern in regards to the chatbot’s unpopularity within the company.
From inaccurate answers that could lead to disastrous consequences to negligent ethical considerations and a rushed release, it appears that Bard’s debut has been anything but smooth. One employee reportedly called Bard a “pathological liar”, while another said the AI chatbot is “cringeworthy”.
Google’s long-term commitment to ethics took a backseat to competing in the AI race and outpacing rival Open AI, creator of ChatGPT. Before the ChatGPT trend, Google was cautious in handling the AI that powered it, and was more open to pacing its introduction to the public so as to take into consideration any ethical issues it might raise.
When ChatGPT stirred up the competition, however, Google’s risk aversion decreased, which could be evidenced by the exit of two prominent ethical AI advocates with Google, namely Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell, who could not be in agreement on the fairness of the firm’s AI principles.
Because of this, the company took a gamble and rolled out an AI chatbot while it was still far from ready, evidenced by the periodic failure in answers to questions that have potential to lead to fatal outcomes, even though Google employees had already warned of the associated risk.
Google’s rivals have also caught wind of the likely risks associated with the company’s hurriedly introduced chatbot. A recent report regarding Apple’s mixed-reality headset revealed a high degree of dissent among employees on the project even amongst higher ups who do not appear to be concerning themselves with the quality of the product, but rather with ensuring its swift release.
In this regard, the heated AI competition between Google and Open AI, which appears to be affecting their respective ethical stances, will be a major factor in determining which of the two is more successful in the long run.
