After new chatbot Bard makes a mistake, Google suffers m-cap losses of almost $100 billion.
Just before Google’s presentation on the new AI chatbot, Bard’s issue was found. On Twitter, Alphabet had shared a little GIF clip of Bard in use and promised that it will assist to clarify difficult concepts. However, it ultimately provided a false response, which caused a significant decline in its market value.
After its new chatbot Bard presented false information in a promotional film, Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, saw its market value decline by $100 billion. This led to concerns that the business is falling behind rival Microsoft Corp.
Alphabet’s stock fell as much as 9% on Wednesday during trading, but it recovered slightly to end the day 7.68% lower. The value of Alphabet’s stock, which had dropped by 40% the previous year, has increased by 15% since the start of 2023.
Following the discovery of an error in Google’s advertisement for its brand-new chatbot Bard, which made its debut on Monday, news agency Reuters alerted investors to the steep decline in share value.
Following the November release of ChatGPT by Microsoft-backed firm OpenAI, Google has been working nonstop to deploy Bard. Because of its human-like reactions, ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-based chatbot, has caught the IT world by storm.
Bard and Alphabet both make mistakes.
Bard’s fault was found just before Google’s introduction of the new AI chatbot. In an attempt to demystify complicated concepts, Alphabet has tweeted a little GIF video of Bard in action.
But in the end, it provided an incorrect response, which caused a significant decline in its market value.
The question “What new findings from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can I teach my 9-year-old about?” is posed to Bard in the advertisement. Bard offered a number of responses, one of which claimed that JWST had been used to capture the first images of exoplanets, or worlds outside our solar system.
However, NASA has acknowledged that the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory captured the first images of exoplanets in 2004.
This emphasises the value of a thorough testing procedure, something we’re starting this week with our Trusted Tester programme, according to a Google representative. “To ensure that Bard’s responses reach a high standard for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world knowledge, we’ll combine external feedback with our own internal testing.”
Microsoft picks up speed in the AI race
Google recently live-streamed a presentation about its brand-new AI chatbot, but it omitted information on how and when it would include Bard into its main search feature.
Microsoft organised an event to announce that it has already published a version of its Bing search with ChatGPT functions incorporated just one day before Google’s presentation. Along with the blunder, Microsoft’s continued lead over Google in the AI chatbot race had an effect on Alphabet’s stock price.
While Google has been a pioneer in AI innovation for several years, according to Gil Luria, senior software analyst at DA Davidson, they “seemed to have fallen asleep” on integrating this technology into their search offering.
According to Luria, “Google has been rushing to catch up on Search over the previous few weeks, which caused the announcement yesterday (Tuesday) to be rushed and the embarrassing goof up of posting an erroneous answer during their demo.”
Microsoft gained almost 3% on Wednesday and finished flat in after-market trading, while shares of Google’s parent firm fell.