Artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved so much in recent years that its current capabilities may have been unimaginable years ago. For example, the first chatbot, created in 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum, ELIZA, was trained to pair user inputs with scripted responses. ELIZA simulated a psychotherapist, and users confided intimate details to it.
Four decades later, AI chatbots like Siri, Google Now, and Alexa became mainstream. These chatbots were designed to make people’s lives easier by allowing us to dictate instructions or ask questions. We’re becoming more accustomed to saying, “Siri, play classical music,” than getting our phones and navigating to our music player.
Another generation of AI chatbots has emerged in recent months, with ChatGPT leading the pack. The AI chatbot is fast becoming a household name, with businesses of all sizes gearing up to reap its benefits. Google’s counterpart AI chatbot, Bard, has recently been made available globally too. Let’s explore the differences between ChatGPT versus Bard so we can make an informed decision.
What Should You Know about ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is short for “Chatbot Generalized Pre-Training Transformer.” It was developed by OpenAI, an AI research laboratory based in the U.S. ChatGPT was trained on a huge amount of data using natural language processing (NLP), enabling it to learn global facts, grammar, and a certain level of reasoning ability. After learning these, ChatGPT was then trained to respond to specific queries.
ChatGPT can answer questions, give recommendations, and understand and generate text in multiple languages. It can write newsletters, emails, blog posts, and other content. However, all these capabilities are based on information gathered and fed into ChatGPT as of September 2021. Therefore, the chatbot cannot provide real-time information. When asked if Elon Musk owns Twitter, for instance, here’s ChatGPT’s response.
Despite this limitation, ChatGPT is widely used. It can be integrated into popular websites and applications for lead generation, customer service, IT support, product or company information bot capabilities, support ticket submission, and many more. Below are some examples of applications that ChatGPT can be integrated into.
- Facebook Messenger
- HubSpot
- Microsoft Teams
- Salesforce
- Slack
- Telegram
- Zendesk
What Should You Know about Bard?
Like ChatGPT, Bard AI was developed using the transformer architecture, a deep learning model designed to process sequential input data simultaneously. It is Google’s brainchild, and the tech company may integrate it into Google Search.
Bard gleans data from the Internet so it can provide more accurate and updated information compared to ChatGPT. As of this writing, Bard is no longer in the testing phase and available to more users worldwide.
Bard can now be integrated into existing applications, such as:
- Google Search
- Google Docs
- Translate
- Slack
- Trello
- Asana
- Evernote
- Notion
ChatGPT Versus Bard: Key Differences
We’ve already touched on the differences between ChatGPT and Bard AI. These are summarized below.
- Developer and accessibility: ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, and Microsoft already started integrating its latest model into Bing. On the other hand, Google owns Bard, which will be integrated into Google Search.
- Data accuracy and scope: ChatGPT’s knowledge base only covers data up to September 2021, whereas Bard continuously obtains real-time information from the Internet. This difference in data coverage makes Bard more accurate compared to ChatGPT.
- Application: ChatGPT is already powering several applications. It is built into Microsoft Office applications, and anyone can integrate it through its API. There are also browser extensions based on ChatGPT. On the other hand, Google announced that Bard will be integrated into its apps and services, such as Maps, Drive, and Docs. It will also be integrated into Adobe Firefly. More than that, Bard can be integrated into project management tools like Trello and Asana.
- Features: Both chatbots’ interfaces include a simple search box where users can type their prompts and queries. However, Bard lets you see your prompt history without scrolling all the way up or opening different chat boxes. Bard also has a “Google it” button that redirects to the source of a specific text.
- Writing style and personality: ChatGPT tends to be more formal, answering questions straight up, with no emotions. Bard AI has a more conversational style. A Reddit user tested the chatbot by asking which Pink Floyd track it thinks is the best, and here is its response.
We asked ChatGPT the same question and received this response.
ChatGPT Versus Bard AI: What’s in Store for the Future?
Both AI chatbots are still relatively new. While ChatGPT already has more than 100 million users, OpenAI continues to improve it. It already automates mundane tasks, but it may need to update its knowledge base to compete with Bard and other chatbots that can provide real-time information.
With Google starting to integrate Bard into Google products and other applications, users will see stark differences between the two chatbots. Whether it’s ChatGPT, Bard, or other conversational AI chatbot that may emerge in the future, this technology will transform workspaces and the business landscape.
