Mistake by Google's new AI chat bot wipes £100 BILLION off firm's value: Bard suffers embarrassing gaffe after answering question WRONG in promo video shared on Twitter

  • Shares in Google's parent company Alphabet fell by nine per cent yesterday
  • Happened after firm's AI bot failed to answer question correctly in Twitter video
  • Competitor ChatGPT has also been known to present false information as facts 

By LEAH MONTEBELLO FOR THE DAILY MAIL and FIONA JACKSON, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Updated:

Google's answer to ChatGPT has been criticised after failing to answer a question correctly in a promotional video shared to Twitter — instantly wiping £100billion from its value.

Shares in the tech giant's parent company Alphabet fell as much as nine per cent after its new artificial intelligence bot, Bard, showed inaccurate information on the advertisement.

Alphabet posted a video of Bard via Twitter, describing it as a 'launch pad for curiosity' to simplify complex topics.

The bot had been asked what to tell a nine-year-old about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its discoveries.

In response, Bard said Webb was the first to take pictures of a planet outside of earth's solar system. However, astronomers were quick to point out that this was actually done in 2004 by the European Observatory's Very Large Telescope.

Gaffe: Google's answer to ChatGPT has been criticised after failing to answer a question correctly in a promotional video shared to Twitter ¿ instantly wiping £100billion from its value

Gaffe: Google's answer to ChatGPT has been criticised after failing to answer a question correctly in a promotional video shared to Twitter — instantly wiping £100billion from its value

Shares in Alphabet fell as much as nine per cent after its new artificial intelligence bot, Bard, showed inaccurate information on the advertisement

Shares in Alphabet fell as much as nine per cent after its new artificial intelligence bot, Bard, showed inaccurate information on the advertisement

WHAT IS GOOGLE'S NEW AI BOT BARD?

On Monday, Google launched its ChatGPT competitor called Bard.

The bot is designed as an 'experimental conversational AI service' that answers users' queries and participates in conversations. 

Google shows that users can ask Bard queries, like 'plan a friend's baby shower' or how to explain new discoveries from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old'.

However, the demonstration of the latter resulted in an incorrect statement, with Bard saying that Webb was the first to take pictures of a planet outside of earth's solar system.

Astronomers were quick to point out actually occurred in 2004, by the European Very Large Telescope.

The incorrect answer to the sample question overshadowed Google's launch of Bard, sending the value of Alphabet crashing towards £1trillion.

Chris Harrison, a fellow at Newcastle University, wrote: 'Why didn't you factcheck this example before sharing it?'

Chatbots are designed to mimic humans in online conversations. 

They are often used by customer service teams to answer online queries automatically but are becoming increasingly advanced.

When ChatGPT was released by start-up OpenAI in December, it opened the eyes of the public to just how powerful the technology has really become in recent years.

It has been used to pass exams, deliver a sermon, write software and give relationship advice — to name just a handful of its functions.

The tool was trained on a gigantic sample of text from the internet in order to be able to understand human language.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on Monday the soft launch of Bard would be available to 'trusted testers' to get feedback on the chatbot before a public release in the coming weeks

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on Monday the soft launch of Bard would be available to 'trusted testers' to get feedback on the chatbot before a public release in the coming weeks

Google's Bard may be a step into the AI race for the company, but it still has many hurdles to overcome to show it's as powerful as ChatGPT

Google's Bard may be a step into the AI race for the company, but it still has many hurdles to overcome to show it's as powerful as ChatGPT 

Google unveiled its competitor tool Bard earlier this week, which similarly answers users' queries and participates in conversations.

Some tech experts have queried whether these technologies are up to scratch, as they have been found to present incorrect information as fact.

OpenAI has acknowledged ChatGPT's tendency to respond with 'plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers', an issue it considers challenging to fix. 

The JWST gaffe from Google's Bard is another example of how developers are struggling to overcome inaccuracies in their AI products.

A Google spokesperson said: 'This highlights the importance of a rigorous testing process, something we're kicking off this week.

'We'll combine external feedback with our internal testing to make sure Bard's responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information.'

Investors were disappointed as Alphabet failed to provide detail on how it will compete with Microsoft in this area.

Last month Microsoft announced a 'multi-billion-dollar investment' in OpenAI, which was set up by Elon Musk.

This week, the maker of the Windows operating system unveiled its new Bing search engine, which incorporates the revolutionary AI chatbot.

A demo version of the updated website is currently live, with a number of pre-set search terms available to try out the new feature. 

This week, Microsoft unveiled its new Bing search engine which incorporates ChatGPT - the chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI)

This week, Microsoft unveiled its new Bing search engine which incorporates ChatGPT - the chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI)

After inputting a query into the new Bing you are presented with a familiar-looking list of hyperlinks, but on the right side is a small box containing a response generated by the bot

After inputting a query into the new Bing you are presented with a familiar-looking list of hyperlinks, but on the right side is a small box containing a response generated by the bot 

Google launches its ChatGPT competitor 'Bard' - read more

Following the success of ChatGPT, Google announced its competitor called Bard

Following the success of ChatGPT, Google announced its competitor called Bard 

After inputting a query you are presented with a familiar-looking list of hyperlinks, but on the right side is a small box containing a response generated by the bot.

The overhaul is the biggest threat Google has seen to its web search dominance — and shows that the race to roll out the first AI-powered search engine, which will replace the normally thousands of results with a single response, is truly under way.

But it's not all over for Google yet as, alongside Bard, it is planning to release its own AI in search results that can synthesise material when no simple answer exists online.

In an announcement on Monday, CEO Sundar Pichai stressed his company's AI suite will be 'bold and responsible' as Microsoft's ChatGPT has been controversial due to misuse.

In December, OpenAI's bot came under fire after students were using it to cheat on tests and homework.

It has also been accused of having a left-wing bias after refusing to praise Donald Trump, tell a joke about women or argue in favour of fossil fuels.

The company's CEO Sam Altman has said that the tech's limitations in this area stem from efforts to stop it from 'making up random facts'. 

He told The Telegraph: 'We know that ChatGPT has shortcomings around bias, and are working to improve it. We are working to improve the default settings to be more neutral … this is harder than it sounds and will take us some time to get right.'

HALF OF CURRENT JOBS WILL BE LOST TO AI WITHIN 15 YEARS

Kai-Fu Lee, the author of AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, told Dailymail.com the world of employments was facing a crisis 'akin to that faced by farmers during the industrial revolution.'

Kai-Fu Lee, the author of AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, told Dailymail.com the world of employments was facing a crisis 'akin to that faced by farmers during the industrial revolution.'

Half of current jobs will be taken over by AI within 15 years, one of China's leading AI experts has warned.

Kai-Fu Lee, the author of bestselling book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, told Dailymail.com the world of employments was facing a crisis 'akin to that faced by farmers during the industrial revolution.'

'People aren't really fully aware of the effect AI will have on their jobs,' he said.

Lee, who is a VC in China and once headed up Google in the region, has over 30 years of experience in AI.

He believes it is imperative to 'warn people there is displacement coming, and to tell them how they can start retraining.'

Luckily, he said all is not lost for humanity.

 'AI is powerful and adaptable, but it can't do everything that humans do.' 

Lee believe AI cannot create, conceptualize, or do complex strategic planning, or undertake complex work that requires precise hand-eye coordination.

He also says it is poor at dealing with unknown and unstructured spaces.

Crucially, he says AI cannot interact with humans 'exactly like humans', with empathy, human-human connection, and compassion.

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