Peter DaSilva/Reuters
- Alphabet stock dropped Wednesday after a report about an inaccuracy in as ad for its new Bard AI chatbot.
- Reuters reported the Google ad on Twitter offered an incorrect answer related to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
- ChatGPT popularity has launched a race among tech companies to integrate AI chat features into their products.
Alphabet shares tumbled Wednesday after a Reuters report said an advertisement for Google's newly unveiled AI chatbot Bard contained an inaccurate answer to a question aimed at showing the newly unveiled tool's capability.
Shares of the company fell as much as 8.9% to $98.04 the lowest price since January 31 and barely pared the decline heading into afternoon trade.
Reuters reported an ad published by Google on Twitter featuring a GIF video of Bard - which Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday introduced as its "experimental AI service" - offered an incorrect response to a question about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
One of Bard's responses suggested the telescope was used to take the first pictures of a planet outside the Earth's solar system. NASA has confirmed European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope had taken the first pictures of exoplanets, in 2004, the report said. The report said Google hadn't immediately responded to a comment request.
Alphabet is part of a race among tech companies to add chat-friendly AI features to their products, with the competition and investing frenzy ignited by the popular ChatGPT tool. Rival Microsoft unveiled its "new Bing" search engine on Tuesday created with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Chinese search heavyweight Baidu also this week said it is on track to introduce its ChatGPT competitor "ERNIE Bot" in March.
Microsoft shares had been recovering in 2023 after losing nearly 30% in 2022 in part as Big Tech stocks were pummeled by a surge in interest rates directed by the Federal Reserve as its battles high inflation.