Google took its next leap in artificial intelligence Wednesday with the launch of project Gemini, an AI model trained to behave in human-like ways that’s likely to intensify the debate about the technology’s potential promise and perils.
The rollout will unfold in phases, with less sophisticated
versions of Gemini called “Nano” and “Pro” being immediately incorporated into
Google’s AI-powered chatbot Bard and its Pixel 8 Pro smartphone.
With Gemini providing a helping hand, Google promises Bard
will become more intuitive and better at tasks that involve planning. On the
Pixel 8 Pro, Gemini will be able to quickly summarize recordings made on the
device and provide automatic replies on messaging services, starting with
WhatsApp, according to Google.
Gemini’s biggest advances won’t come until early next year
when its Ultra model will be used to launch “Bard Advanced,” a juiced-up
version of the chatbot that initially will only be offered to a test audience.
The AI, at first, will only work in English throughout the
world, although Google executives assured reporters during a briefing that the
technology will have no problem eventually diversifying into other languages.
Based on a demonstration of Gemini for a group of reporters,
Google’s “Bard Advanced” might be capable of unprecedented AI multitasking by
simultaneously recognizing and understanding presentations involving text,
photos and video.
Gemini will also eventually be infused into Google’s
dominant search engine, although the timing of that transition hasn’t been
spelled out yet.
“This is a significant milestone in the development of AI,
and the start of a new era for us at Google,” declared Demis Hassabis, CEO of
Google DeepMind, the AI division behind Gemini. Google prevailed over other
bidders, including Facebook parent Meta, to acquire London-based DeepMind
nearly a decade ago, and since melded it with its “Brain” division to focus on
Gemini’s development.
The technology’s problem-solving skills are being touted by
Google as being especially adept in math and physics, fueling hopes among AI
optimists that it may lead to scientific breakthroughs that improve life for
humans.
But an opposing side of the AI debate worries about the
technology eventually eclipsing human intelligence, resulting in the loss of
millions of jobs and perhaps even more destructive behavior, such as amplifying
misinformation or triggering the deployment of nuclear weapons.
“We’re approaching this work boldly and responsibly,” Google
CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post. “That means being ambitious in our
research and pursuing the capabilities that will bring enormous benefits to
people and society, while building in safeguards and working collaboratively
with governments and experts to address risks as AI becomes more capable.”
Gemini’s arrival is likely to up the ante in an AI
competition that has been escalating for the past year, with San Francisco
startup OpenAI and long-time industry rival Microsoft.
Backed by Microsoft’s financial muscle and computing power,
OpenAI was already deep into developing its most advanced AI model, GPT-4, when
it released the free ChatGPT tool late last year. That AI-fueled chatbot
rocketed to global fame, bringing buzz to the commercial promise of generative
AI and pressuring Google to push out Bard in response.
Just as Bard was arriving on the scene, OpenAI released
GPT-4 in March and has since been building in new capabilities aimed at
consumers and business customers, including a feature unveiled in November that
enables the chatbot to analyze images. It’s been competing for business against
other rival AI startups such as Anthropic and even its partner, Microsoft,
which has exclusive rights to OpenAI’s technology in exchange for the billions
of dollars that it has poured into the startup.
The alliance so far has been a boon for Microsoft, which has
seen its market value climb by more than 50% so far this year, primarily
because of investors’ belief that AI will turn into a gold mine for the tech
industry. Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet, also has been riding the same
wave with its market value rising more than $500 billion, or about 45%, so far
this year. Despite the anticipation surrounding Gemini in recent months,
Alphabet’s stock edged down slightly in trading Wednesday.
Microsoft’s deepening involvement in OpenAI during the past
year, coupled with OpenAI’s more aggressive attempts to commercialize its
products, has raised concerns that the non-profit has strayed from its original
mission to protect humanity as the technology progresses.
Those worries were magnified last month when OpenAI’s board
abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman in a dispute revolving around undisclosed issues
of trust. After backlash that threatened to destroy the company and result in a
mass exodus of AI engineering talent to Microsoft, OpenAI brought Altman back
as CEO and reshuffled its board.
With Gemini coming out, OpenAI may find itself trying to
prove its technology remains smarter than Google’s.
“I am in awe of what it’s capable of,” Google DeepMind vice
president of product Eli Collins said of Gemini.
In a virtual press conference, Google declined to share
Gemini’s parameter count — one but not the only measure of a model’s
complexity. A white paper released Wednesday outlined the most capable version
of Gemini outperforming GPT-4 on multiple-choice exams, grade-school math and
other benchmarks, but acknowledged ongoing struggles in getting AI models to
achieve higher-level reasoning skills.
Some computer scientists see limits in how much can be done
with large language models, which work by repeatedly predicting the next word
in a sentence and are prone to making up errors known as hallucinations.
“We made a ton of progress in what’s called factuality with
Gemini. So Gemini is our best model in that regard. But it’s still, I would
say, an unsolved research problem,” Collins said.
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