Alphabet Chairman Says Google’s Bard AI wasn’t Really Ready

John Hennessy, Alphabet Chairman says Google's Bard AI wasn't ready to be used yet.

Google's experimental AI chatbot, Bard AI, didn't get the warm reception it would have expected – a promotional ad for the product contained an embarrassing factual error that hammered the company's stock price and garnered criticism from staff for a "rushed" and "botched" effort.

Now, an Alphabet chairman Google's parent business, claims that the internet behemoth was hesitant to launch the technology. "I think Google was reluctant to productize this because it didn't think it was ready for a product yet, but I think it's a terrific piece of technology as a showcase vehicle," John Hennessy said at the Tec Surge conference on Monday, according to CNBC.

He claimed that Google was taking its time introducing Bard since it was still producing incorrect responses. Google released Bard amid strong competition from rival chatbot ChatGPT, and just a day before Microsoft launched its AI-powered Bing search engine, which is constructed using technology from OpenAI, ChatGPT's parent company. On Monday, Hennessy also stressed that AI chatbots are still in their early phases of development. And he is not alone in his misgivings; Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman have all expressed similar reservations.

Google discovered the hard way how disastrous this can be. Alphabet's stock dropped 9% on Wednesday when it was revealed that it had supplied an inaccurate answer to a query regarding NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

According to CNBC, Hennessy declined to speak particularly mostly on the public's reaction to Google's Bard at the conference.  Google did not react promptly to Insider's request for comment submitted after regular business hours.