Google released its own AI chatbot, Bard, to the public on Tuesday. I jumped on the waiting list — which lasted only about eight hours before I gained access.
I’ve begun comparing Bard to ChatGPT Plus. Both are large-language models capable of generating text, translating languages, and writing creative content. However, there are some key differences between them.
Datasets. Bard is built using a massive dataset of text and code, while ChatGPT is a model trained on a dataset of text and dialogue. This means Bard might be better at generating grammatically correct and factually accurate text, while ChatGPT is theoretically better at creating conversational text. Why? Bard’s ability to remember text is limited (for now), whereas ChatGPT can remember up to 3,000 words from previous conversations.
Access to the Web. Bard is also more likely to be able to access and process information from the real world through Google Search, while ChatGPT is not. So Bard can provide more up-to-date answers to your questions. ChatGPT’s dataset is only current to September 2021.
Alternate Versions. Bard creates multiple versions of responses for users to choose from, while ChatGPT only produces one response. This should be a popular feature.
Languages. ChatGPT knows several languages (Spanish, French, Arabic, Mandarin, Italian, Japanese, and Korean), but Bard is only available in English for now.
Computer Code. ChatGPT can create complex code. Bard isn’t able to write any code at all — at least for now.
Let the AI chatbot competition continue!