Ready or not, like it or not, the AI race has begun. It has already led to unlikely alliances, such as OpenAI and Microsoft. But it’s also forcing some of the biggest players in big tech to showcase their own AI projects.

Such is the case with Google at the tail end of March 2023 when Google unveiled Bard. It was first shown to Pixel Superfans, and is now open to anyone wanting to wait on a waitlist for it. Now that we’ve looked beyond the veneer, we have some thoughts on Google’s newest, ambitious projects. Let’s look at our first impressions.

What Is Google Bard?

Bard is a generative AI designed to create text from naturally written queries. Under the hood, Bard uses Google’s own large language model, LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). It’s built upon Google’s Transformer: a neural network architecture first announced in August 2017 that was, at the time, intriguing. It’s a model that has been years in the making–for now, all roads seem to lead to Bard.

Bard works like this. First, open your web browser and go to Bard’s homepage (currently, there's no app available for the AI chatbot). Then, ask Bard anything you wish, as naturally as you wish. For example, we asked it to write us a short poem about a proton and an electron falling in love, along with the size of the sun.

Whether you need an answer to a math question or want Bard to help you brainstorm that next chapter of your novel, Google aims to make finding the solution as natural as asking a human being. Essentially, Bard is a brainiac in your pocket that’s available to answer any query at a moment’s notice. If it sounds like this could replace “search” as we know it, that’s the idea.

How Bard Impressed Us

If you have been using Bing AI to help you plan a trip or find a new dinner recipe, you’ve probably noticed that it can be creative and accurate but slow. It’s an issue with other generative text AI platforms like ChatGPT, as it seems like you have to watch line-by-line as the AI answers your query in real time.

It’s a cool novelty for those that remember jacking into BBS boards using an ancient baud modem in the 80s. But for instant answers, patience is a must.

If competitors like Bing AI and ChatGPT are marathon runners, then Bard is a sprinter. Ask Bard a query, and you not only get an answer in a few seconds, but two additional answers. Here's what that looks like.

For instant answers—like settling a debate at pub night—Bard seems ideal. But notice how, despite its speed, Bard still isn't 100% accurate.

As you can see above, one of the drafts it gave us in response to our query about the most and least habitable planets in our solar system was about habitable moons surrounding the planets in our solar system rather than the planets themselves. That brings us to Bard's shortcomings.

Where Google's Bard Fell Short

Even in its experimental phase, Bard is easy to use and snappy. But when it comes to producing accurate results 100% of the time and proving those results, Bard feels like it’s playing out of tune at times.

When asking Bard a fact-based question, sometimes you will see the sources of the answer. Other times, you’ll see a button inviting you to Google your question. This is one area where, when comparing generative AI chatbots like Bard and Bing AI, Bing AI wins hands down.

We asked Bing AI the same question we asked Bard earlier, and it gave us a response that was not only on par with Bard’s best draft but gave us four sources we could use to confirm its results.

When you ask Bard something a bit too technical (like medical questions), it usually responds with something cute like, “I’m just a language model.” But we discovered that if you speak to it like a layman, you can sometimes get Bard to divulge information it otherwise wouldn’t share.

For example, we asked Bard about the symptoms of arthritis in greyhounds. It didn’t outright list the symptoms of arthritis in greyhounds. But it did give us a list of reasons why a greyhound may be tired and not exercising. If Bard is to be a generative AI assistant for everyone, it needs to be ready for all manner of prompts, specifically the technical ones.

Bard Works and Generates Quickly, but That’s It

Open Bard and hand it to your parents; they’ll figure out how to use it in under a minute. That’s cool, but it’s already just as easy to figure out how to use Bing AI. Google’s Bard may be fast, but generative AI chatbots need more than swiftness to compete in this emerging market.