Google to launch ChatGPT competitor 'Bard': Sundar Pichai
New York, Feb 7: Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced that the tech giant will soon launch an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered chatbot called Bard', aimed at countering the popularity of the ChatGPT tool backed by Microsoft.
According to a blog post by Pichai, the conversational AI service will be assessed by a group of "trusted testers" before being rolled out to the public in the coming weeks.
"Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity," Pichai, the Indian-origin CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, said on Monday, adding that Google's chatbot will be able to explain complex subjects like new discoveries from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to a nine-year-old.
Google's announcement follows wide speculation that Microsoft is about to bring the AI chatbot ChatGPT to its search engine Bing, following a multi-billion dollar investment in the firm behind it, OpenAI, the BBC reported.
ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer), which was launched in November 2022, is capable of generating speeches, songs, marketing copy, news articles and student essays or human-like text based on the input it is given.
Bard, built on Google's existing large language model LaMDA, "seeks to combine the breadth of the world's knowledge with the power, intelligence, and creativity of our large language models", Pichai, 50, said in the blog.
AI chatbots are designed to answer questions and find information.
"Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world's knowledge with the power, intelligence, and creativity of our large language models," Pichai said in the blog post.
Pichai said he wanted Google's AI services to be "bold with innovation and responsible in our approach". However, he did not elaborate on how Bard would be prevented from sharing harmful or abusive content.
He said that Google will initially release Bard with a "lightweight model" version of LaMDA which will require less computing power and enable the tech giant to scale to more users, allowing for more feedback.
"We're excited for this phase of testing," Pichai said, adding that Google will combine external feedback with internal testing to make sure Bard's responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information.
"It's critical that we bring experiences rooted in these models to the world in a bold and responsible way. That's why we're committed to developing AI responsibly," he wrote in the blog.
Pichai also said on Monday that AI-powered tools will soon begin rolling out on Google's flagship Search tool.
"Soon, you'll see AI-powered features in Search that distil complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web," Pichai wrote, "whether that's seeking out additional perspectives, like blogs from people who play both piano and guitar, or going deeper on a related topic, like steps to get started as a beginner."
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Karnataka's Republic Day tableau depicts artistic temples of Lakkundi
New Delhi (PTI): Karnataka's tableau in the 76th Republic-Day parade here on Sunday depicted the exquisite and artistic temples of the historic city of Lakkundi.
Located in Gadag district of Karnataka, about 70 km from Hubballi, Lakkundi is called the "Cradle of Stone Craft" for its stunning stone architecture.
The front part of the tableau that rolled down Kartavya Path had the Brahma statue from the Brahma Jinalaya temple, the oldest Jain shrine in Lakkundi dedicated to Lord Mahaveera.
It was followed by the open-pillared mantapa of the Brahma Jinalaya temple.
The main section of the tableau had on display the grand and ornate Kashi Vishweshwara temple and Nanneshwara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The temples of Lakkundi reflect the rich cultural heritage of Karnataka and celebrate all faiths and religions. The southern state has always been a "SarvaJanangadaShaanthiya Thota", a quintessential garden of peace.
Lakkundi is home to beautiful temples, stepwells and inscriptions from the Chalukya dynasty.
Besides being a cultural powerhouse, Lakkundi was a large thriving city and a commercial hub between the 10th and 12th century AD.
The city was ruled by several dynasties but the most important of them were the Chalukyas.
Lakkundi is a paradise for antiquarians and architecture enthusiasts. It has 50 temples, most of which are dedicated to Lord Shiva, 101 stepwells and 29 inscriptions.
It is an epitome of the Kalyani Chalukyas' excellence in art, culture and architecture.
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