Chat GPT which was introduced last November has become the talk of the town. The Open AI's capabilities and impact have got the internet talking. Chat GPT is a tool that helps in churning out content, betters copywriting, and allows users to automatically write essays or past tests. The AI application has been generating quality responses to user prompts. The Open AI Chat GPT also hit 100 million users and created history as the fastest-growing platform.
According to Similarweb data, an average of 13 million unique visitors used Chat GPT daily in January, which is double the levels from December. Experts opine that such a faster ramp in a consumer internet app has not happened in the last 20 years. While Chat GPT is a free platform, OpenAI, the company behind the platform, has also introduced a $20 monthly premium subscription, which is now available to users in the United States. Open AI is currently backed by Microsoft, which gives the latter an edge over the competitors. Though there have been talks about inaccurate responses and other dangers associated with AI chatbots, Chat GPT has been welcomed positively so far. This has also got the attention of many brands that are now announcing the rivals of Chat GPT.
While Chat GPT is banned in many educational institutions across India and US, the application's growth has been enormous and is improving every day. This has led to many companies introducing their own chatbots. Google, which has been working on AI for more than five years has finally revealed the AI named Bard. It is an experimental conversational AI service that is powered by the company's Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA). And it has better qualities. In a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned that Brad will be able to provide high-quality responses by deriving information from the web.
He further added that it can help people explain complex topics to a 9-year-old. These topics include various unique and complex concepts like the discoveries from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and the best football players. Brad will initially go through a test run. Google is releasing Brad with a lightweight model version of LaMDA. As it requires less computing power, it makes it easier to scale to more users and get feedback. So, at the first set of testing, trusted testers will be given access to Bard. It aims to combine external feedback and internal testing to ensure Bard's future performances, high quality and safety.
After Google, the next to join this chatbot bandwagon is the Chinese search engine giant Baidu. Their bot is called Wenxin Yiyan in Chinese and ERNIE bot in English. While Google's Bard is expected to be out in the coming weeks, Baidu's ERNIE bot is said to be launched in March. Microsoft has announced that its search engine Bing will undergo a makeover and the new version will be able to answer questions, chat with users and produce content based on prompts. Microsoft is also investing several billion dollars in OpenAI. Even though the company had conducted mass layoffs, they had invested billions in OpenAI, which only emphasises the crucial factor of AI among the tech giants.
Microsoft's Bing has always fallen behind Google in terms of search engine services. As a result, its shares in the global market remain in low digits as well. But now with a Chat GPT-like experience, the search engine is expected to get a new look. "It's a new day for search," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Their new version with a better experience is now live on Bing. He further added, "Today, we're launching Bing and Edge powered by AI copilot and chat, to help people get more from search and the web."
Quora has also jumped into the chatbot bandwagon in a unique fashion. It launched an app that allows its users to communicate with AI chatbots, including ChatGPT. Quora's chatbot is named Poe. the chatbot, which was under beta testing, is now unveiled for use among the public. He said that Poe will have back-and-forth conversations and give instant answers to the users. This app is limited to only iPhone users. What makes Poe unique in the line of rival chatbots is that it will also act as a platform that supports several bots. its main objective is to become a bot aggregator. As users will be able to access several different chatbots under one roof, Poe is a unique attempt.
Recently, Alibaba has also announced its chatbot. The company says it will launch its own ChatGPT-style tool. While no details were shared about the application or launch, the behemoth said that it was testing an AI-powered chatbot internally. Speaking to CNN on February 8, an Alibaba spokesperson told that "Frontier innovations such as large language models and generative AI have been our [focus] areas since the formation of DAMO (the company's research wing that focuses on machine intelligence, data computing and robotics) in 2017."
He further added that as a technology leader, Alibaba will continue to invest in cutting-edge innovations and turn them into value-added applications. Post the announcement, the shares of Alibaba's Hong Kong shares ticked up 1.4%.
However, Google's Bard produced an incorrect response during a public demonstration and suffered a setback. This resulted in Google's parent company, Alphabet, falling nearly 8% in shares on February 7.
With multiple companies trying to find their footing in the AI and chatbot space, the competition is getting higher and higher every day. The tech giants are investing billions in chatbots to create a technical advantage for their companies. Like digital transformation, chatbots and AI have the potential of creating another wave. But there have been many complaints and concerns about the rise of chatbots. This is also expected to affect hiring and layoffs. While competitiveness means a whole different thing to the future of web space, what it means to the users and hired staff across industries needs to be seen.
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