Google launches AI model Gemini, claims it's better than ChatGPT

(Patria) - Google has launched its Bard chatbot with a new generation artificial intelligence (AI) model called Gemini, which it says is capable of reasoning better than ChatGPT and other rivals.

The search giant aims to seize the generative AI crown from ChatGPT maker OpenAI as the company grapples with the fallout from a boardroom coup that saw chief executive Sam Altman fired and then rehired within days.

Google has been quietly developing AI power for years but was caught off guard when OpenAI released ChatGPT late last year and partnered with Microsoft to make its capabilities available to users worldwide, AFP reports.

"This is incredible momentum, and yet, we are just beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible," said Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

It is the first AI model to outperform human experts on certain benchmarks that include problem-solving, math, physics, history, law, medicine and ethics, said Google DeepMind vice president Eli Collins during a briefing.

A demonstration showed Gemini recognizing what was depicted, from a person acting out a scene from the movie "The Matrix" to someone drawing a duck and then holding a rubber duck. It then commented on what was depicted, making comparisons, drawing conclusions and offering suggestions.

The performance of the "Ultra" version of Gemini "far surpasses" other state-of-the-art models on 30 tests measuring capabilities such as image understanding or mathematical reasoning, Collins says.

The "Pro" version of Gemini embedded in Bard is designed to handle a wide range of tasks.

The "Nano" version is tailored for smartphones, and is the first on Google's Pixel 8 phone.

Google launched its own Bard chatbot earlier this year, continuously updating the chatbot based on people's feedback, according to Bard vice president Sissie Hsiao.

"All of this rapid innovation leads us to what we see as a truly transformative moment," she adds.

Bard will use Gemini for more advanced reasoning, planning and understanding capabilities, a demonstration showed. It will be available in English in more than 170 countries and territories, with more languages to be added soon, Hsiao says. Bard, infused with Gemini, will be expanded to be "multimodal," meaning it will be able to work with audio and visual input as well as text prompts.

"With Gemini, we are one step closer to our vision of bringing you the world's best AI collaborator," Hsiao says.

Gemini increases the quality of Bard's performance, whether it's writing poetry or computer code, to shopping queries or research projects, Hsiao says. The "Ultra" version of Gemini designed to tackle very complex tasks will be released early next year, Google said.

"I'm blown away by what it's capable of," Collins said of Gemini.

"This is the start of a new era for us at Google as we continue to innovate and advance the model's capabilities at speed."

Google integrated Gmail, YouTube and other tools into its Bard chatbot in September as the tech giants seek to convince users that generative AI is useful rather than dangerous or just a fad.

Those capabilities match Microsoft's offerings that give AI powers to its Office 365 applications for an additional fee and are not available via a chatbot on its Bing search engine. Governments and tech companies insist that generative AI is the next big chapter in technology and have increased spending on new products, research and infrastructure.