Since the advent of mainstream conversational AI with ChatGPT, Google has been eager for a slice of the action. Well,Bard is here now, and continues growing exponentially. Like its OpenAI-led rival, Bard hasproduced laughable responsesto basic arithmetic and logical reasoning questions. However, Google has been developing another language model separately, which has now been fused with Bard to help with logic capabilities and even pave the way for autonomous code generation in the future.
If you aren’t familiar, Bard is based on Google’s Language Model for Dialogue Application (LaMDA), and as the name suggests, it is better at holding conversation than being your pocket logician. In 2021, Google announced its long-term vision for a newPathwaysmodel, and in 2022, introduced thePathways Language Model(PaLM). At the time, PaLM was a 540-billion-parameter language model trained using Pathways. Now, Google isfusing PaLM with Bard(via9to5Google).
PaLM’s logical capabilities include arithmetic, code completion, semantic parsing, summarization, logical inference, common-sense reasoning, pattern recognition, translation, an understanding of physics, and even joke explanation. Here are a few examples Google shared last year, demonstrating these capabilities Bard lacked until recently:
In his tweet announcing the PaLM addition, Google staffer Jack Krawczyk says Bard is now better equipped to respond to multi-step word and math problems, and the code generation capability is coming soon. To be clear, ChatGPT has code completion capabilities, but isn’t polished enough in other aspects to provide reliable answers to logical and numerical questions. The bot also appears rather gullible and prone to coercion.
Talking about ChatGPT with theNew York Times, Google boss Sundar Pichai admitted Bard is in very early stages of development. He clarified Bard’s current test is to see the kinds of questions thrown at AI, which would help Google identify advanced models (like PaLM) which can be plugged in down the road.
With enhanced logical prowess, Bard could become every student’s assignment completion accomplice and a ready solver for complicated questions one encounters in real life. However, we suggest youpit Bard against ChatGPTregularly to find the more reliable AI, as their models continue evolving rapidly.
