TLDR: Google’s AI chatbot, Bard, made a significant blunder in a promotional advertisement by providing an incorrect answer about the James Webb Space Telescope. This error, which occurred in February 2023, led to a sharp decline in Alphabet’s share price, wiping over $100 billion from its market value, and highlighted the intense competition and risks in the AI race against rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI.
In February 2023, Google’s highly anticipated artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard, encountered an embarrassing setback during its promotional debut. The AI assistant, designed to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s integrated AI offerings, provided a factually incorrect answer in a widely circulated advertisement, leading to significant financial repercussions for the tech giant.
The blunder occurred when Bard was asked about new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that could be shared with a nine-year-old. In its response, Bard erroneously claimed that the JWST was the first telescope to capture images of a planet outside our solar system, known as an exoplanet. This assertion was quickly debunked by experts, including astrophysicist Grant Tremblay, who pointed out that the first image of an exoplanet was actually achieved in 2004 by the European Very Large Telescope (VLT) using adaptive optics. The JWST did capture its first exoplanet image in September 2022, but it was not the inaugural instance.
The immediate fallout was severe for Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Following the revelation of Bard’s error, Alphabet’s stock experienced a sharp decline, plummeting by 9% during regular trading. This sell-off resulted in a staggering loss of over $100 billion (£82 billion) in market value, reflecting investor concerns about Google’s readiness and accuracy in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
The incident underscored the high stakes in the ongoing ‘AI arms race’ where tech giants are scrambling to deploy advanced AI capabilities. Google’s rush to catch up with Microsoft, which has heavily invested in OpenAI and is integrating ChatGPT-powered features into its Bing search engine, was brought into sharp focus. Critics and experts highlighted the inherent challenges of generative AI models, which can sometimes confidently present inaccurate information.
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In response to the error, a Google spokesperson acknowledged the issue, stating that the incident ‘highlights the importance of a rigorous testing process.’ At the time, Bard was still in a ‘trusted tester program’ and had not yet been rolled out to the public, suggesting that such inaccuracies were part of the development and refinement phase. The company emphasized its commitment to a thorough testing process, which was being initiated with its trusted testers. The error was spotted just hours before senior Google executives were scheduled to host an event in Paris to discuss the expansion of AI in their products, adding to the awkward timing of the revelation.
