C_NCENTRATE 918: Bard boo boos, NFT trial, PayPal backs off crypto, 'Microstress', viral Japanese work phrases +++

GOOGLE JUST WIPED $100 BILLION OF VALUE

REMINDER: Buy your virtual/on-demand tickets for TBD Conference (Feb 23).

This week's big news was a rare public blunder from Google when demoing their ChatGPT competitor, Bard. An error that lopped $100 billion off the company’s value:

The rare occurrence some called ‘panic’ and hubris by others, but most humans remain blissfully unaware that Bard and ChatGPT exist. In reality, both ChatGPT and Bard (Google’s version of Chat GPT) are flawed and learning. No-one seems entirely sure we can keep AI in a box.

Context time. How do these two differ from each other? Firstly, Bard will have access to the most up-to-date information and will be able to provide more current information than ChatGPTs ‘up to 2021’ level. Google will give Bard access to the #1 search engine in the world (±84% of search), offering it more data, structure and contextual information than Bing (!8%).

Google wants Bard to turn difficult topics into easily digestible, chit-worthy chunks - a big difference to OpenAI’s goals. Chat GPT responds with content generated from text prompts. Bard AI has an in-built advantage over ChatGPT because of the depth and breadth of information it can access. Of course, this also gives Google more complexity, which is likely why OpenAI seems so miraculous right now. For a real-world example of how much these two can vary, look at this Twitter thread which shows the answers to the same questions.

We are still very early in the generative AI narrative, but undoubtedly, generative AI will make big tech even more powerful. ChatGPT is prone to making up stories and facts, and Bard can get things wrong. While I put more stock in Bard AI in the long term because of Google’s history, war chest and intent, Google is losing the media narrative. Equally, just because Google nailed search does not mean the company will get generative AI half as well. Google has a lot to protect, and Microsoft has everything to gain; being on the back foot is a scenario in which Google rarely finds itself. Unlike ChatGPT, Bard doesn’t need to find users.

SO WHAT?

__ DO __ Know that C_NCENTRATE will be free of generative AI next week (omnipotent being willing). // __ DON’T __ The ChatGPT hype cycle is probably at its peak now; it’s important to remember the technology is just getting out of the gate. It’s entirely possible that ChatGPT will emerge as the more creative of the two, and Bard will be used more for research. We don’t have enough data and time to distinguish trends right now.

Book a session with us here if you want the real deal on what’s happening in the tech world and how to get the most from it now and in the future.

---

HOW TO HANDLE ANYTHING THAT COMES YOUR WAY: You can order the new version of ‘Disruptive Technologies’ containing the TBD framework.

---