Google on Tuesday announced that it is opening access to Bard, an artificial intelligence chatbot powered by a large language model (LLM). Bard is Google's answer to OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has exploded in popularity since going public late last year.
"We’ve learned a lot so far by testing Bard, and the next critical step in improving it is to get feedback from more people," the company wrote in a blog post.
In the big tech firm race to dominate the AI space, Google has proven to be more cautious than the Microsoft-based OpenAI. While ChatGPT has become the current byword for AI, Google's has struggled to generate the same excitement.
With the decision to make Bard public, Google is stepping off of the sidelines — though it isn't throwing caution to the wind either.
"While LLMs are an exciting technology, they’re not without their faults," the company wrote. "For instance, because they learn from a wide range of information that reflects real-world biases and stereotypes, those sometimes show up in their outputs. And they can provide inaccurate, misleading or false information while presenting it confidently."
This is exactly what happened when Google unveiled the tool at a press conference. It gave the wrong answer to a question about a major scientific achievement, a mistake which kicked off an 8 percent plunge in Google parent Alphabet's stock price.
Google added that the testing process is designed to avoid these pitfalls by figuring out where guardrails need to be built to make sure interactions are "helpful and on topic."
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Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
