AIster · The ChatGPT shock · Launches
Google unveils Bard, and an error in its demo hits shares
One wrong answer in a promotional demo, and about $100 billion off Alphabet's value
Key facts
- Date
- 6–8 Feb 2023
- Era
- The ChatGPT shock
- Interest
- Launches
- Threads
- Model wars
- Who
- Google (Alphabet)
- Model
- A lightweight version of LaMDA
- Error
- Claimed Webb took the first exoplanet pictures; ESO's Very Large Telescope did so in 2004
- Market reaction
- Shares fell 7.7% on 8 Feb; about $100 billion in market value lost
Google announced Bard, a chatbot built on LaMDA, its own large language model, on 6 February as its answer to ChatGPT. A promotional example wrongly said the James Webb Space Telescope took the first pictures of a planet outside our solar system. On 8 February Alphabet's shares fell 7.7%, wiping about $100 billion off its market value.
Sources
- Google, An important next step on our AI journey, 2023-02-06
- CNN, Google shares lose $100 billion after company’s AI chatbot makes an error during demo, 2023-02-08
- NPR, Google shares drop $100 billion after its new AI chatbot makes a mistake, 2023-02-09