Inside Google's 100-Day AI Sprint: The Birth of Gemini

Alphabet Inc. owns both Google and Microsoft, which is in a race to develop advanced AI technologies. In its effort to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google initiated a focused 100-day project led by Sissie Hsiao.

Background: In December 2022, Hsiao, who has over 16 years of experience at Google, was chosen to lead the team working on a new chatbot called Bard. This initiative was a direct reaction to the surge in popularity that ChatGPT experienced.

Google recognized the need for a quick response to what they referred to as a “code red” situation after ChatGPT's debut. Initially, Bard faced several issues, including generating incorrect information and sometimes providing inappropriate responses. Nevertheless, the development team continued their efforts to improve the technology.

Encouraged by executives like Sundar Pichai, Google advocated for rapid advancement as the competition intensified, especially with Microsoft integrating ChatGPT into its Bing search engine.

To ensure its AI development remained influential, Google accelerated Bard's evolution, describing it as an “experiment” to set user expectations appropriately. Despite early challenges, including a notable factual error in a promotional video that negatively impacted Alphabet’s stock price, the company remained dedicated to enhancing Bard.

Eventually, Google amalgamated its AI research teams, DeepMind and Google Brain, to form a more robust language model called Gemini, which managed to outperform ChatGPT in various evaluations.

Significance: This race to establish a counterpart to ChatGPT marks a pivotal moment for Google in its AI journey. In December 2023, Google revealed Gemini to the public, asserting its position against OpenAI.

However, early in 2024, Google faced new hurdles with Gemini, particularly regarding image generation errors, which necessitated a pause on that feature. Issues regarding Gemini's accuracy led to Sundar Pichai admitting the problems and labeling them as “completely unacceptable.”

During this challenging period, notable figures like Elon Musk expressed concerns regarding the implications of an AI with biased programming, referencing the potential issues with AI stressing diversity in its operations.

Nonetheless, experts hold a positive outlook on Alphabet’s prospects in the AI sector, given its established strengths in cloud computing, search engines, and platforms like YouTube.

Google, AI, Gemini