Google Exec Says AI Chatbot Bard Is Laying The Groundwork For The Company To Add Billions Of Users

To attract billions of new users, Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL is putting its experimental AI chatbot, Bard, to the forefront, a senior company official has revealed.

What Happened: Bard, an AI-driven chatbot, is being seen as a precursor to another product with two billion users, said Jack Krawczyk, Google’s product lead at the Reuters NEXT conference.

Bard, which aids users in brainstorming and information retrieval, is anticipated to enhance Google’s customer base. Google intends to merge Bard’s human-like suggestions with its Google Assistant, thereby exposing more people to AI technology, reported Reuters. 

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This integration is a major move for Google’s parent company, Alphabet, as it highlights its AI aspirations. The Sundar Pichai-led company currently has six products, including Google’s search engine and YouTube, each with billions of users.

This move also indicates the intensifying competition in the AI sector, with companies like Amazon.com AMZN aiming to upgrade its Alexa assistant with similar AI and OpenAI, improving its ChatGPT with voice commands and additional features.

Why It Matters: Despite the promise, the use of AI chatbots has not been without controversy. 

Last month, it was reported that both Google and Microsoft Corporation’s chatbots made glaring errors in reporting real-time news about the Israel-Hamas conflict, raising concerns about their accuracy and reliability.

It was also reported that Google had previously banned the internal use of AI chatbots, including Bard, due to security and data protection concerns in June 2023. The move followed similar actions by Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

As such, while Bard’s integration into Google Assistant may attract more users, it also brings to light previous issues around the reliability and security of AI chatbots.

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