Summary
- Google set itself the challenge of building an AI chatbot to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT within 100 days of the latter’s launch.
- For the initiative, known as Bard, Sissie Hsiao, who ran Google’s Assistant unit, pulled together about 100 people from across the company.
- But hitting the target proved impossible, particularly given the challenges posed by the scale and complexity of Google’s computing infrastructure.
- Google’s top AI researchers joined forces to build the language model, which was eventually rebranded as Gemini.
- But the project’s urgency and the need to integrate the two AI labs led to internal tensions, anxiety over resources, and a tighter lid on publishing.
- The launch of Gemini, which is already being upgraded, has helped put Google back in the race.
- But executives are urging caution, and some staff are concerned that the company is more focused on output than accuracy.
By Paresh Dave, Arielle Pardes
Original Article