Are OpenAI and Microsoft Equal? Finding a way to protect Google’s AI systems from the viewpoint of a Bloomberg analyst: re-visiting the Bard case

We found that Bard was more useful and accurate than both Microsoft’s system and the openai’s system.

Bloomberg’s report illustrates how Google has apparently sidelined ethical concerns in an effort to keep up with rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI. The company frequently touts its safety and ethics work in AI but has long been criticized for prioritizing business instead.

Other people at the same company would disagree. A common argument is that public testing is necessary to develop and safeguard these systems and that the known harm caused by chatbots is minimal. Yes, they produce toxic text and offer misleading information, but so do countless other sources on the web. It’s different to give users information directly with all the authority of an artificial intelligence system than it is to give them a bad source of information. Google’s rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI are also arguably just as compromised as Google. The only difference is they’re not leaders in the search business and have less to lose.

This new approach could have new dangers, though. Text generator systems are notorious for introducing errors and replicating biases in their training data. One person familiar with the presentation said they were worried that factual errors could be introduced into ad campaigns. “It is optimised to convert new customers and has no idea what the truth is,” said the individual. Google told the FT in response it would be introducing guardrails to try and protect against this eventuality.

The tools will likely be integrated into the performance max program, which provides an overview of customers’ campaigns. Notably, Performance Max already uses machine learning to customize ad spend, but currently only makes strategic recommendations (like setting budgets when bidding for ad space). The key difference is that these new updates will deal with the creative content used directly in advertisements.