Gemini (chatbot)
Gemini, formerly known as Bard, is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Google. Based on the large language model (LLM) of the same name and developed as a direct response to the meteoric rise of OpenAI's ChatGPT, it was launched in a limited capacity in March 2023 before expanding to other countries in May. It was previously based on PaLM, and initially the LaMDA family of large language models.
This article is about the chatbot. For the language model, see Gemini (language model).Developer(s)
March 21, 2023
LaMDA had been developed and announced in 2021, but it was not released to the public out of an abundance of caution. OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 and its subsequent popularity caught Google executives off-guard and sent them into a panic, prompting a sweeping response in the ensuing months. After mobilizing its workforce, the company launched Bard in February 2023, which took center stage during the 2023 Google I/O keynote in May and was upgraded to the Gemini LLM in December. Bard and Duet AI were unified under the Gemini brand in February 2024, coinciding with the launch of an Android app, which would replace Google Assistant as the main virtual assistant on Android, Google Assistant, however, will stay as an optional assistant.[4]
Gemini has received lukewarm responses. It became the center of controversy in February 2024, when social media users reported that it was generating historically inaccurate images of historical figures as people of color, with conservative commentators decrying its alleged bias as "wokeness".
History[edit]
Announcement[edit]
On February 6, 2023, Google announced Bard, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot powered by LaMDA.[21][22][23] Bard was first rolled out to a select group of 10,000 "trusted testers",[24] before a wide release scheduled at the end of the month.[21][22][23] The project was overseen by product lead Jack Krawczyk, who described the product as a "collaborative AI service" rather than a search engine,[25][26] while Pichai detailed how Bard would be integrated into Google Search.[21][22][23] Reuters calculated that adding ChatGPT-like features to Google Search could cost the company $6 billion in additional expenses by 2024, while research and consulting firm SemiAnalysis calculated that it would cost Google $3 billion.[27] The technology was developed under the codename "Atlas",[28] with the name "Bard" in reference to the Celtic term for a storyteller and chosen to "reflect the creative nature of the algorithm underneath".[29][30]
Multiple media outlets and financial analysts described Google as "rushing" Bard's announcement to preempt rival Microsoft's planned February 7 event unveiling its partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its Bing search engine in the form of Bing Chat (later rebranded as Microsoft Copilot),[31][32] as well as to avoid playing "catch-up" to Microsoft.[33][34][35] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told The Verge: "I want people to know that we made them dance."[36] Tom Warren of The Verge and Davey Alba of Bloomberg News noted that this marked the beginning of another clash between the two Big Tech companies over "the future of search", after their six-year "truce" expired in 2021;[31][37] Chris Stokel-Walker of The Guardian, Sara Morrison of Recode, and analyst Dan Ives of investment firm Wedbush Securities labeled this an AI arms race between the two.[38][39][40]
After an "underwhelming" February 8 livestream in Paris showcasing Bard, Google's stock fell eight percent, equivalent to a $100 billion loss in market value, and the YouTube video of the livestream was made private.[33][41][42] Many viewers also pointed out an error during the demo in which Bard gives inaccurate information about the James Webb Space Telescope in response to a query.[43][44] Google employees criticized Pichai's "rushed" and "botched" announcement of Bard on Memgen, the company's internal forum,[45] while Maggie Harrison of Futurism called the rollout "chaos". Pichai defended his actions by saying that Google had been "deeply working on AI for a long time", rejecting the notion that Bard's launch was a knee-jerk reaction.[46] Alphabet chairman John Hennessy acknowledged that Bard was not fully product-ready, but expressed excitement at the technology's potential.[47]
A week after the Paris livestream, Pichai asked employees to dedicate two to four hours to dogfood testing Bard,[48] while Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan encouraged employees to correct any errors Bard makes.[49] 80,000 employees responded to Pichai's call to action.[24] In the following weeks, Google employees roundly criticized Bard in internal messages, citing a variety of safety and ethical concerns and calling on company leaders not to launch the service. Seeking to prioritize keeping up with competitors, Google executives decided to proceed with the launch anyway, overruling an unsympathetic risk assessment report conducted by its AI ethics team.[50] After Pichai suddenly laid off 12,000 employees later that month due to slowing revenue growth, remaining workers shared memes and snippets of their humorous exchanges with Bard soliciting its "opinion" on the layoffs.[51] Google employees began testing a more sophisticated version of Bard with larger parameters, dubbed "Big Bard", in mid-March.[52]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Gemini, then known as Bard, received mixed reviews upon its initial release.[114] James Vincent of The Verge found it faster than ChatGPT and Bing Chat, but noted that the lack of Bing-esque footnotes was "both a blessing and a curse",[55] encouraging Google to be bolder when experimenting with AI.[115] His colleague David Pierce was unimpressed by its uninteresting and sometimes inaccurate responses,[116] adding that despite Google's insistence that Bard was not a search engine, its user interface resembled that of one, which could cause problems for Google.[117] Cade Metz of The New York Times described Bard as "more cautious" than ChatGPT,[118] while Shirin Ghaffary of Vox called it "dry and uncontroversial" due to the reserved nature of its responses.[119]
The Washington Post columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler found Bard a mixed bag, noting that it acted cautiously but could show Internet-influenced bias.[120] Writing for ZDNET, Sabrina Ortiz believed ChatGPT and Bing Chat were "more capable overall" in comparison to Bard,[121] while Wired journalist Lauren Goode found her conversation with Bard "the most bizarre" of the three.[122] After the introduction of extensions, The New York Times' Kevin Roose found the update underwhelming and "a bit of a mess",[123] while Business Insider's Lakshmi Varanasi found that Bard often leaned more into flattery than facts.[124]
In a 60 Minutes conversation with Hsiao, Google senior vice president James Manyika, and Pichai, CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley found Gemini "unsettling".[125] Associate professor Ethan Mollick of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania was underwhelmed by its artistic ineptitude.[126] The New York Times conducted a test with ChatGPT and Gemini regarding their ability to handle tasks expected of human assistants, and concluded that ChatGPT's performance was vastly superior to that of Gemini.[127] NewsGuard, a tool that rates the credibility of news articles, found that Gemini was more skilled at debunking known conspiracy theories than ChatGPT.[128] A report published by the Associated Press cautioned that Gemini and other chatbots were prone to generate "false and misleading information that threaten[ed] to disenfranchise voters".[129]
In June 2024, Voice of America reported that Gemini generated answers to questions in Mandarin about topics sensitive to the Chinese government that were consistent with Chinese Communist Party propaganda.[130]
