In the aftermath of Google’s botched announcement of Bard, their AI tool, company executives are in damage control mode. Despite their efforts, it seems that they are causing even more confusion among their employees.
The first meeting since Google employees publicly criticized the company over the Bard announcement was held on Thursday. It was described as an “angry” meeting, with executives answering questions from the company’s internal forum, Dory. The majority of the questions centered around priorities related to Bard, according to audio obtained by CNBC.
During the meeting, executives emphasized that Bard should not be confused with research. While the technology is great at generating human-sounding text, it’s not always fact-based, which has raised concerns about its use in search.
This appears to be a different strategy than what was initially presented at the launch, where integration was heavily discussed. The president of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has already admitted that the company was not prepared for the announcement of the tool.
Wall Street has punished Alphabet for launching Bard, causing stock values to plummet. Concerns have been raised that the company’s main search engine risks being replaced by AI-powered responses that allow for more conversational and creative interactions. Officials have criticized Google’s initial public presentation, describing it as “hurried”, “wrong”, and “out of Google-style”.
At Thursday’s meeting, Jack Krawczyk, product lead at Bard, was present to answer questions from Dory. The meeting was an attempt by executives to address the issues raised by their employees and regain their trust. Only time will tell if their efforts will be successful.
Jack Krawczyk, emphasized that the Bard is not meant to be a research tool but rather an experiment. It’s designed to be a creative companion that helps users explore their curiosity and spark their imagination. However, Krawczyk admitted that users may still try to use it as a survey.
To address this issue, Google has created a new feature for internal use called “Search It”. Krawczyk noted that the company will improve the generation of associated queries and instill trust in users. Users will also see a tab that directs them away from search results, but Krawczyk noted that if users want to get more into search-driven journeys, Google already has a product for that called “search.”
The attempt to separate the Bard from search seemed to represent a shift in Google’s initial strategy. In the lead-up to Bard’s announcement, executives repeatedly said that the technology could integrate with search, which caused confusion among employees.
Elizabeth Reid, vice president of engineering for research, echoed Krawczyk’s comments, noting that Bard is separate from research. She emphasized that Google has a long history of bringing language models into research, citing models like Bert and Mum. However, the company wants to keep the heart of research in mind as it experiments with language models.
Despite Google’s claims, the word “search” was used several times in Bard’s February announcement, which has further muddied the waters regarding its intended use. The debate over AI tools and their role in search will likely continue as the technology advances and their capabilities become more apparent.
