Bard: What is Google's Bard and how is it different to ChatGPT?

Google has launched its own AI chatbot, called Bard.

The artificial intelligence chatbot can answer questions in a human-like way by accessing up-to-date information from the internet.

It's seen as a rival to ChatGPT, which launched last year.

Bard is only available to people over the age of 18 and you need a Google account to use it.

However Google have warned that Bard would have "limitations" and could share misinformation.

What does Google Bard do?

Users can ask Bard questions like Google search

On Tuesday Google released its chatbot, Bard, to the public starting with users in the US and UK, who can register to try it out.

Bard uses the internet to give answers to questions, rather than giving web pages and web links like a search engine would. It can also write essays and poems.

How is Bard different to ChatGPT?

Well Bard has a "Google it" button which allows users to fact check and find out what sources have been used, such as Wikipedia.

Google senior product director Jack Krawczyk said he used Bard to help him plan his child's birthday party. The chatbot came up with a theme which included his child's love of rabbits and gymnastics and also suggested party games and food.

Krawczyk told the BBC that Bard is "an experiment" and he hopes people will use it as a "launchpad for creativity".

Google say Bard is programmed not to respond to offensive questions and there are filters to stop it from sharing harmful, illegal or personal information - but vice president of Google Research, Zoubin Ghahramani said like any methods of protection these could sometimes not work.

What are chatbots like Bard and ChatGPT?

ChatGPT launched last year by OpenAI

Chatbots use artificial intelligence to answer questions in a human-like way.

They can write poems, speeches, student essays or computer code.

In November 2022 ChatGPT launched and had more than one millions users within a week, according to OpenAI the company who created it.

Microsoft have invested billions of dollars in it and hope to bring a version to its office apps including Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Google have been slower at launching Bard, with it only available in the US and UK first. The company says the chatbot won't always get things right.

What are the dangers of ChatGPT, Bard and other AI chatbots?

Big technology companies may be excited with this new tech but there are some concerns too. Some fear that these tools, which are still developing, could threaten lots of different types of jobs - because they are doing jobs that real people do - such as researchers.

Another issue with chatbots is misinformation and bias. Bard might bring up false information and stereotypes, because it gets its information from the real-world where biases exist.

Bias and stereotypes are unfair judgements about people or things based on incorrect information and lack of understanding of those who are different from us.

Google said it will watch Bard to make sure it avoids creating or reinforcing bias.