Google Bard is already behind in the AI wars with OpenAI and Microsoft

• Google Bard, the search firm's answer to ChatGPT, has underwhelmed early testers.
• Users in the US and UK trying out the AI chatbot find it pales in comparison to OpenAI's tech.
• It confirms Google is behind in demo-ing the power of AI.

There's a lot riding on Google Bard, the search giant's answer to conversational chatbot ChatGPT.

With ChatGPT released to viral acclaim, and Microsoft implementing the same underlying technology into its own search engine Bing, Google needs Bard to enter the public consciousness.

Bard's potential popularity — or lack thereof — has serious implications for Google's search leadership and its overall standing as a cutting-edge tech giant.

The signs are not positive so far.

On Tuesday, Google initiated the process of opening up Bard to the world by inviting users in the US and UK to sign up for access. It first demoed Bard in February, in a clear response to seeing ChatGPT take the world by storm over the holiday period, but is only now opening up access.

Google describes the chatbot as "our early experiment that lets you collaborate with generative AI." Joining a waitlist for Bard requires you to be 18 or over, a personal Google account, and a supported browser. 

Unfortunately for the search giant, the beta-ness of Bard is clear, with a first batch of adopters seemingly underwhelmed by its capabilities when compared with OpenAI's GPT-4 technology. 

A lackluster debut

Bard has had the odd hiccup already.

A possible mistake made by the chatbot during its demo launch last month was followed by a $100 billion cratering in parent company Alphabet's valuation.

Now testers say the current version of Bard isn't living up to the competition.

"I've been playing with Google Bard for a while today and I never thought I'd say this, but… Bing is way ahead of Google right now (at this specific chat feature)," tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee tweeted on Tuesday. 

Ethan Mollick, associate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches entrepreneurship and innovation, added that although it's early, "Google's Bard does not seem as capable as a learning tool as Bing or GPT-4."

Mollick notes that "Google's Bard loses" to its rival "by a lot" in poetry, struggling far more in its potential to generate a sestina, fixed verse form from France made up of 39 lines. 

A prompt to get Bard to generate a synopsis of a "Star Wars" movie in the style of filmmaker David Lynch, known for his off-kilter storytelling, ended up producing a bog-standard "Star Wars" plot.

The same prompt directed at GPT-4 produced something that felt distinctly Lynchian.

—Leo Kelion (@LeoKelion) March 22, 2023

Bard also has issues handling word puzzles, an area where AIs powered by large language models should theoretically excel. Take Twofer Goofer, an online puzzle that involves users figuring out what a pair of mystery rhyming words are through slightly obtuse prompts and clues. 

OpenAI's GPT-4 has a 96% success rate at the game, while humans succeed 82% of the time, according to an analysis by the game's makers. 

Bard's success rate, it found, was 0%. 

Describing the results as "shockingly disappointing", co-creator Collin Waldoch wrote: "Bard was not able to solve a single Twofer Goofer when given the prompt. It was close in a couple instances, but ultimately unsuccessful." 

Google may have run into the innovator's dilemma — where incumbents face a real threat from agile young companies if they decide to stay the course and fail to innovate. 

It's possible that the company does have a super impressive AI tool up its sleeve. Insider's Hugh Langley reported earlier in March that Google employees are testing a more intelligent version of Bard, nicknamed "Big Bard." The tool, Langley wrote, has more human-like responses and is more informal. What's available to the public is the lightweight version.

Google's long-time case against an OpenAI-style approach to releasing powerful, commercial-use AI has been rooted in the ethical issues surrounding a technology prone to errors, biases, and misuse. But this is now the age of AI, as Bill Gates boldly stated the day Bard was released. The development of AI, in his words, "is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet and the mobile phone."

Note Gates doesn't mention web search in his list of fundamental developments. Google may need to move faster to cement its position in tech history.