Google has, for years, been at the forefront of AI development – alongside tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, Intel, and Apple. But, just as the world was warming up to Google’s AI offerings, OpenAI emerged from the shadows and stole the spotlight.
Among OpenAI’s impressive arsenal of AI tools, ChatGPT is the one that made the most striking debut. It quickly gained recognition for its exceptional capabilities, shaking the very foundations of Google’s web dominance. The search engine’s AI team was then compelled to fast-track the development of their own AI language model, which dropped as Google BARD in March 2023.
👉 And thus, the epic ChatGPT vs Google BARD face-off began.
Well, we’ve been fortunate enough to get our hands on both ChatGPT 4 and Google BARD. Our mission? To put these two cutting-edge AIs through their paces, and reveal the unvarnished truth about how they truly compare. We now present to you the ultimate Google BARD vs ChatGPT showdown.
ChatGPT vs Google BARD: What powers them?
The key difference between ChatGPT and Google BARD stems from the Large Language Models (LLM) they employ. OpenAI’s ChatGPT uses the Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4 (GPT-4), while Google BARD relies on its bespoke Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA). Both have had notable errors, but AI is continuously learning and improving.
At their foundation, the two models share the revolutionary transformer architecture, a neural network specifically designed for processing sequential input.
The GPT-3 and GPT-4 predecessors were trained on a vast array of text sourced from the internet. We’re talking about websites, books, articles, documents, etc. On the other side, Google LaMDA’s training was enriched by Infiniset, a dataset primarily focused on dialogues and conversations.
Infiniset has been feeding on Common Crawl, Wikipedia, published documents, and a rich assortment of web-based conversations. In addition, Google BARD’s AI model has also been engineered to scour the web in real time, generating relevant and up-to-date answers to users’ questions.
ChatGPT too relies on training data compiled from Common Crawl, Wikipedia, books, articles, documents, and open internet content. However, the most recent information it can access only reaches up until 2021 – meaning its AI engine is yet to catch up with the latest events and research developments.
It’s worth noting, however, that both GPT-4 and LaMDA are works in progress. And as their capabilities advance, the dynamics of the ChatGPT vs Google BARD rivalry will transform, shaping the future of AI language models as we know it.
ChatGPT vs Google BARD responses to prompts
In this section, we will compare the responses provided by ChatGPT vs Google BARD on three different tasks to determine which AI tool performs better in terms of accuracy, aptitude, information synthesis, and coding.
- ChatGPT vs Google BARD accuracy and aptitude
- ChatGPT vs Google BARD information synthesis
- ChatGPT vs Google BARD coding
1. ChatGPT vs Google BARD accuracy and aptitude
Test question: How much money do I need to run a WordPress ecommerce website until it breaks even?
Upon closely analyzing the responses provided by both ChatGPT 4 and Google BARD, we can observe that they cover similar aspects when discussing the costs of running a WordPress ecommerce website. Both AI models mention domain and hosting, themes, plugins, ecommerce platforms, marketing, payment processing, inventory and shipping, and other potential expenses.
However, there are some subtle differences in the way each AI presents the information. ChatGPT 4 delves deeper into the topic, offering more specific details regarding the costs associated with each element.
For example, it includes WooCommerce in the assessment, and then goes on to provide an estimate of payment gateway charges (around 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction). ChatGPT 4 also emphasizes the importance of estimating fixed and variable costs alongside revenue forecasts to calculate the breakeven point.
On the other hand, Google BARD’s response is more concise and focuses on a general overview of the costs involved. While it does cover all the major aspects, it does not provide specific details or figures related to payment processing or ecommerce platforms.
As such, we can agree that the winner of the ChatGPT vs Google BARD aptitude test is ChatGPT.
🏆 Winner: ChatGPT
2. ChatGPT vs Google BARD Information synthesis
Test task: Explain API to a non-coder.
On prompting each of the AI tools to explain API to a non-coder, both provided solid answers.
ChatGPT 4 employed the analogy of a waiter in a restaurant to describe the role of APIs in software communication, whereas Google BARD explained the concept through the example of a weather forecast application that leverages the OpenWeatherMap API to obtain weather data.
Although both explanations are clear and easy to understand, Google BARD’s response offers a more detailed explanation of how APIs are utilized in software development.
The real-world examples provided, such as social media app integration and online inventory management, give the reader a better understanding of the practical applications and importance of APIs across various industries.
🏆 Winner: Google BARD
3. ChatGPT vs Google BARD coding
Test task: Generate HTML and CSS code for a chess gaming app.
On prompting them to code, ChatGPT 4’s answer offers a more complete solution for crafting the layout of a chess gaming app.
The HTML and CSS code produced by ChatGPT 4 accurately showcases a chessboard, complete with pieces arranged in their starting positions. Additionally, the code features CSS classes for each chess piece, signifying the use of images to represent them. This response provides a strong foundation for developing a chess gaming app.
In contrast, Google BARD’s reply merely presents the HTML and CSS for a basic 8×8 chessboard that’s devoid of any pieces. While it does establish a chessboard layout, it falls short of providing the essential details needed to create a fully functional chess gaming app.
🏆 Winner: ChatGPT
What are the differences between ChatGPT and Google BARD?
Approach to answers 🙋♂️
LaMDA’s training emphasizes grasping the user’s question intent and contextual nuances. To accomplish this, Google researchers organized high-level concepts into hierarchical clusters, guiding the model’s response selections.
The AI tool aims to produce genuine responses that closely resemble human speech. It even tries to transition between subjects, much like a human conversation. However, going by the answers we got from the ChatGPT vs BARD tests, LaMDa’s ability is still far from what it set out to achieve.
Interestingly, OpenAI’s GPT AI engine is the one that seems more natural-language-oriented. This is thanks to its extensive training in web text and AI content generation based on statistical patterns. As a component of the popular ChatGPT chatbot, the GPT engine can also summarize, translate, and perform various text-based tasks.
Training data 💽
Whereas much of Google BARD’s training data remains relatively unknown, LaMDA’s research paper offers some critical insights [1]. It reveals that 12.5% of the training data comes from Common Crawl, akin to GPT-n models, and another 12.5% is sourced from Wikipedia.
It turns out, however, that ChatGPT boasts more model parameters than Google BARD, with 175 billion compared to 137 billion. These parameters are basically adjustable elements that help the AI model adapt to the data during training. And while more parameters mean better synthesis of complex language relationships, they also risk overfitting.
Overall, on the question of ChatGPT vs Google BARD training data, we could say that even though BARD may exhibit greater resilience to novel language use cases, ChatGPT is trained to be more versatile.
Internet access 📡
ChatGPT’s main shortcoming has always been its inability to access the Internet. Despite improvements in the GPT-4 model, the AI chatbot depends on a dataset that excludes events post-September 2021.
On the other end of the spectrum, Google BARD boasts real-time Internet connectivity. Similar to Bing, the BARD AI searches the web and intelligently generates answers to various queries. This feature makes it highly proficient in delivering current information with minimal errors.
What’s more, Google BARD occasionally cites its URL sources for user reference.
It’s worth noting, though, that Google BARD’s real-time web access doesn’t guarantee 100% accuracy. The AI has embarrassingly had issues with providing incorrect responses, even during its initial release.
User interface 🖱️
Both tools are quite straightforward, as they primarily interact with users through a search bar. There are, however, some minor differences in functionality.
Google BARD supports voice prompts via your device’s microphone, offering a hands-free experience. It also includes a “Google it” button for seamless in-line research beyond BARD.
The AI interface additionally features a “drafts” option that presents multiple response variations per prompt, allowing users to select the most fitting reply. The user-friendly activity display here even shows past prompts, with options to view details or delete entries. Users can otherwise disable BARD’s activity storage.
ChatGPT, on the other hand, arranges prompts into sidebar conversations, encouraging longer discussions on specific topics. Users can rename or delete these conversations, but locating responses to individual prompts requires you to scroll.
Verdict: Which is better between ChatGPT and Google BARD? 🏅
After comparing the performance of ChatGPT vs Google BARD, it’s clear that ChatGPT 4 has the upper hand – as it outperforms Google BARD in several areas. While both AI language models have room for improvement, ChatGPT 4 exhibits a more humanlike and intelligent approach to generating text.
Google BARD, on the other hand, seems to fall short in its current iteration. Although it is trained on conversations and human dialogue, it is apparent that BARD also uses search data to provide real-time information.
This limits its potential as a versatile AI language model, and it may not be the best choice for natural language processing tasks that require a broader range of context and knowledge.
Overall, while both AI models have their strengths, ChatGPT 4 appears to be the more versatile and sophisticated choice for a wide range of language-related tasks. However, keep in mind that both models are still developing, and their capabilities will continue to change over time.
Their growth will certainly make the ChatGPT vs Google BARD rivalry even more interesting, and we’ll be here to provide you with all the updates. Keep watching this space.
What are your thoughts on this showdown between the two AI chatbots? Do you prefer one over the other? Let us know in the comments below!
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