Google testing ChatGPT-like chatbot ‘Apprentice Bard’ with employees

Google is testing new synthetic intelligence-powered chat merchandise which are prone to affect a future public product launch. They embrace a brand new chatbot and a possible option to combine it right into a search engine.

The Alphabet firm is engaged on a mission below its cloud unit known as “Atlas,” which is a “code pink” effort to answer ChatGPT, the large-language chatbot that took the general public by storm when it went public late final yr. 

Google can be testing a chatbot known as “Apprentice Bard,” the place staff can ask questions and obtain detailed solutions much like ChatGPT. One other product unit has been testing a brand new search desktop design that might be utilized in a question-and-answer kind. 

Leaders have been asking extra staff for suggestions on the efforts in latest weeks. CNBC seen inner paperwork and spoke with sources concerning the efforts at the moment underway.

The product exams come after a latest all-hands meeting the place staff raised considerations concerning the firm’s aggressive edge in AI, given the sudden recognition of ChatGPT, which was launched by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based startup that’s backed by Microsoft. 

Google’s AI chief Jeff Dean informed staff on the time that the corporate has way more “reputational threat” in offering improper info and thus is shifting “extra conservatively than a small startup.” Nonetheless, he and Pichai teased on the time that Google could launch comparable merchandise to the general public a while this yr. Google’s prime enterprise is internet search, and the corporate has lengthy touted itself as a pioneer in AI.

Apprentice Bard changed Meena, a earlier model of a wise chat bot that had launched internally however was later discontinued. Staff have seen Apprentice Bard’s responses turning into extra superior in latest weeks.

In a single instance circulated internally, a tester requested Apprentice Bard if there might be one other spherical of layoffs at Google. The corporate laid off 12,000 staff, 6% of its workforce, earlier this month.

“In keeping with my knowledge base entry, it’s unlikely for Google to conduct one other spherical of layoffs in 2023,” the response reads. “Layoffs are typically carried out to cut back prices and construction, however the firm is doing effectively financially. In reality, Google’s income elevated by 34% in 2021, and the corporate’s inventory value has risen by 70% since January 2022.”

The corporate can be testing an alternate search web page that might use a question-and-answer format, in response to designs seen by CNBC.

One view confirmed the house search web page providing 5 totally different prompts for potential questions positioned instantly below the primary search bar, changing the present “I am feeling fortunate” bar. It additionally confirmed a small chat brand contained in the far proper finish of the search bar.

When a query is entered, the search outcomes present a gray bubble instantly below the search bar, providing extra human-like responses than typical search outcomes. Instantly beneath that, the web page suggests a number of follow-up questions associated to the primary one. Below that, it exhibits typical search outcomes, together with hyperlinks and headlines.

It is unclear simply which experiments Google plans to include in future product launches.

“We’ve got lengthy been targeted on creating and deploying AI to enhance folks’s lives,” a Google spokesperson stated. “We imagine that AI is foundational and transformative expertise that’s extremely helpful for people, companies and communities, and as our AI Ideas define, we have to take into account the broader societal impacts these improvements can have. We proceed to check our AI expertise internally to ensure it is useful and secure, and we look ahead to sharing extra experiences externally quickly.