Google's Bard chatbot spreads false information

The spread of false information is about to get much worse, if Google's Bard chatbot's unauthorized launch is any indicator. Google has been working on a strong rival for ChatGPT but Bard looks like having some problems. This week, the business shared an advertisement on Twitter showcasing a natural-language AI model that misrepresented the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

A brief GIF from the advertisement (via Reuters) features an illustration of a Q&A with Bard. The question is, "What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my nine-year-old about?" Three ideas are swiftly generated by the algorithm, the final of which claims that JWST captured the first images of a planet outside of our solar system.

Google's Bard chatbot spreads false information

Bard is an experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA. Built using our large language models and drawing on information from the web, it’s a launchpad for curiosity and can help simplify complex topics → https://t.co/fSp531xKy3 pic.twitter.com/JecHXVmt8l

— Google (@Google) February 6, 2023

Although inaccurate information in a Twitter advertisement is unlikely to cause any immediate harm, it's simple to interpret the error as a warning about the dangers of releasing natural-language chatbots into the world. It is comparable to CNET's choice to use an AI chatbot to generate financial advice articles, which were likewise rife with mistakes.