Of all the alternatives to ChatGPT, Google Bard and Bing AI are some of the most powerful chatbots out there. Having tested both of them, I can say that they walk the line between impressive and downright scary in their capabilities. They seem like proper stand-ins for ChatGPT… except they’re not. [Disclaimer: We know that Bing AI is based on ChatGPT. However, Microsoft made considerable alterations to it. It’s basically a different chatbot entirely. You can learn more if you click here.]
On the surface, that wouldn’t really seem like the case. All three of them can perform some insane AI wizardry that makes us fear Skynet. If you’re looking for simple encyclopedia information, tips/advice, or bits of code, any one of them will suit you just fine. They’re basically indistinguishable from one another in that respect.
Once you start digging beneath the surface, you begin to see certain differences between, not only the capabilities, but the underlying mentalities between ChatGPT and the other two chatbots. These differences are such that you won’t find yourself deleting ChatGPT from your bookmarks in lieu of the others.
Why Bard and Bing AI aren’t proper ChatGPT alternatives
So, regardless of what chatbot you use, you’ll have a ton of power at your fingertips. As stated before, you can type in a query to get pretty much anything. Google Bard and Bing AI excel at digging up information from the web- obviously, they’re tied to massive search engines.
You can also generate short stories, bits of code, scripts, and so on. So, what’s the big deal? Well, it has a lot to do with the core mentality behind these chatbots. OpenAI crafted ChatGPT for the purpose of pushing AI forward. It’s a ship charting the open seas.
With that comes the incentive to make ChatGPT the best and most-featured chatbot on the face of the planet. I could get a sense of that while testing it out. This goes beyond serving up information. It’s able to generate a wide range of content, and it’s meant to do so in a conversational manner.
Google Bard and Bing AI are soldiers at birth
So, that’s what ChatGPT is, but what is Bing AI? It’s Microsoft’s attempt to battle Google in the search engine market. What is Bard? It’s Google’s attempt to keep Google Search from going under. The mentality behind these two chatbots is more competitive and urgent.
Microsoft jumped on ChatGPT to push Bing to new heights, not artificial intelligence. As for Google, the company brought Bard to the public as a response to ChatGPT. Both Bard and Bing AI are soldiers at birth to battle some assault on their respective companies. That’s very different from ChatGPT.
This is evident in how these chatbots present their responses. Bard and Bing AI primarily exist to serve you search results, pull facts, and keep you on the search engines.
At this point, Bing AI is the biggest example of this. When you type in certain responses, it will actually perform a Bing search to deliver results. There were times in my testing when it would pull up search results that I could click on. For example, I asked it for advice on how to swaddle a baby, and it gave me search results for baby blankets. That sling-shots you over to using the Bing search engine.
Right now, Google Bard isn’t heavily tied to Google search, but there is a Google It button at the end of each of the responses. At the time of this writing, Bard is still in the testing stage, so it still remains to be known how Google’s going to further advance it.
Falling short
So, Bard and Bing AI are champions when it comes to pulling information from the ether, but that’s not the only reason why AI chatbots are such a hot topic. It’s about what they can produce. While morally shaky, people can produce all sorts of content with these three chatbots.
While you can generate written content with Bard and Bing AI, ChatGPT beats them by a long shot. I asked Bard to write a review of the Pixel 7 Pro, and it gave me a rundown of the specs with a little bit of filler text.
ChatGPT, however, attempted to make it an actual review with a proper introduction, conclusion, and opinions. Also, it also added some humanizing text like “The Pixel 7 Pro’s camera is where the device truly shines” and “the Google Pixel 7 Pro is an excellent device that checks all the boxes for a flagship smartphone.” Bing AI didn’t even write a review.
This is the main theme that pervades most of the other tests that I performed. I asked all three chatbots to write a script about a couple who goes through a tornado warning. ChatGPT’s was the longest and it had the most developed lines. It’s also the only chatbot that could actually write a eulogy.
I even sparked up a casual conversation with all three, and ChatGPT is the one that stayed on topic the best. If I type something like “I had a great day today”, ChatGPT would ask why it was great. BingAI and Bard would say something along the lines of “That’s great to hear… ok next topic.”
Basically, all of these chatbots use artificial intelligence, but ChatGPT’s is more, well, intelligent.
Each chatbot has its purpose
So, Google Bard and Bing AI are two powerful chatbots with a lot to offer, but their purposes were written even before the first bits of code were being put together. They’re meant to help their companies fight for dominance in the tech industry and not much more. Thus, they’re heavily optimized to be search engine counterparts, not digital Swiss army knives.
As time passes, Google Bard and Bing AI will, indeed, become more advanced, but the core mentality driving the and them developers will always be market dominance. Because of this, they just aren’t proper replacements for ChatGPT.
2023-04-20 15:07:41