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Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

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Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#151

Post by acdha »

mort96 wrote: post #144
acdha wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instant answers seem like a cautionary example since Google has gotten a fair amount of flack over the cases where it inaccurately summarized content. I think these services are going to be very interesting to study whether the average person thinks they're more authoritative because they're branded by a huge corporation and whether that'll decline over time as people realize the limitations.

It's weird. I've personally experienced cases where the highlighted instant answer is obviously incorrect and the full context actually claims the opposite of what the excerpt claims, and those kinds of examples circulate around the web pretty frequently, and everyone who has ever tried to ask ChatGPT or similar systems tricky questions should know how AIs just invent stuff when they don't know the real answers. So w…

It really goes back to the toxic incentives of ad sales. Google wants you to stay on Google.com so they get more chances to show ads. They only care about low quality results if it means you stop using them, which for years wasn’t a serious risk but can change relatively quickly if alternatives arise. They should know, given how rapidly they pulled users away from Alta Vista, Yahoo!, et al. 20 years ago.

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#152

Post by fleddr »

partiallypro wrote: post #18

I think there is a genuine concern that Google could overreact and launch a half-baked product in pure panic of being left behind or one upped by Microsoft. There is also a fear, I think, that the ChatGPT integration with Bing/Edge could not go all that smoothly. I think it could be game changing in many ways, but I can also see both of these falling apart. Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri were thought to be g…

Agree. Only thing I want to add is that it's not just SEO ruining search, it's contradictory incentives. A user wants the quickest path to an answer but Google actually wants you to engage as long as possible so that you can look at ads.

If you'd now create a short/brief web page with the perfect answer to a particular question without any ads, Google would fully dismiss your page.

That's the tragedy of Google, never breaking away from that perversion.

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#153

Post by xdavidliu »

politician wrote: post #74

Well, it is called "Bard". What did you expect? A bard makes up stories and sets them to music. Sometimes the stories are true, sometimes embellished, sometimes false. Ideally, they all sound good enough and keep the patrons entertained.

I was expecting it to take its bow, climb on top of the town tower, and shoot a fire-breathing dragon in the only part of its body not encrusted with jewels, but to each their own.

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#154

Post by cool_dude85 »

MatthiasPortzel wrote: post #120
partiallypro wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Siri is not why people are buying iPhones, in fact well over 50% of users say they never or rarely use it. So, your point doesn't really hold up. Siri still loses money, just like Google Assistant and Alexa. The apps you listed to compare with OS bundles have not even close to the same overhead as a digital assistant and can be handled with relatively small programming teams.

Apple is selling HomePods and iPhones for a profit. But Amazon is/was selling Echos for a loss, in the hope that they would drive additional Prime music subscriptions and lower friction to Amazon purchases. That didn’t happen, and so the product line all-devices-sold-with-Alexa has lost Amazon money. The equivalent comparison, all devices with Siri, has made Apple a ton of money.

Without examining internal Amazon or Apple data on the marginal sales increase estimates for Siri/Alexa it's impossible to say, though.

Apple has earned a lot of money on devices with Siri included. Microsoft has made a lot of money on OSes with Minesweeper included.

It would be wrong to conclude anything about the profitability of Minesweeper based on that fact, just as it is wrong to conclude anything about the profitability of Siri based on the equivalent fact from Apple.

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#155

Post by Smoosh »

smegger001 wrote: post #87
preommr wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and launch a half-baked product It'll be fortunate if it's only half-baked. These digital assitants are already rough around the edges with how they sometimes confidently provide inaccurate information. Add on Google's absolutely abysmal product development track record and the internal confusion over being forced into doing this and this isn't a stand alone application but it's being integrated into something, and…

>These digital assitants are already rough around the edges with how they sometimes confidently provide inaccurate information. its only going to get worse. because there will LLMs like chatgpt pumping out content for SEO content mills with no vetting for accuracy, then the next generation of LLMs are trained on them thus further corrupting the knowledge base they pull on to produce new content. its going to be a hor…

Indeed. We thought that the AI threat was killer robots. But it is actually the cancer of information which looks reputable but is incorrect in unpredictable ways.

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#156

Post by racl101 »

klvino wrote: post #51
rsynnott wrote: post #36

Finally, a completely artificial version of the archetypical middle-aged man in a pub who is very confidently wrong about stuff. The ultimate triumph of ML, an replicant sitcom character.

Cliff Clavin?

lol brilliant.

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#157

Post by knodi123 »

coffeebeqn wrote: post #150
partiallypro wrote: post #18

I think there is a genuine concern that Google could overreact and launch a half-baked product in pure panic of being left behind or one upped by Microsoft. There is also a fear, I think, that the ChatGPT integration with Bing/Edge could not go all that smoothly. I think it could be game changing in many ways, but I can also see both of these falling apart. Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri were thought to be g…

This does seem essentially like a Siri 2.0. I never found Siri useful but maybe this time it’ll be

siri sucks, but google assistant is already pretty good for the 90% of things I want it to do. a much improved google assistant would be awesome, and if I remember to use it within its limitations, I'm not worried about any of this "confidently wrong answers" stuff.

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#158

Post by knodi123 »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #134
adamrezich wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guarantee they focus-tested it and found that most people who remember Clippy don't have fond memories of him (and/or remember the memes/jokes about him more than they remember the actual Clippy), but, more importantly, most people don't remember him at all and wondered why this weird paper clip guy was talking. he hasn't been in an Office product since, what, 23 years ago or something? (not counting cameos)

And probably a fair number asked "what is this weird bent line thing and what does it have to do with searching the internet?"

"Okay, fine, we'll make him an anthropomorphic phone dial. Or maybe a floppy disc."

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#159

Post by jjtheblunt »

aidenn0 wrote: post #65
jjtheblunt wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as in vacuous memorizers, reciting things they've seen, sometimes in new combinations?

They definitely aren't vacuous memorizers. GP's description of them as "bullshit generators" is correct. They generate plausible-sounding text that (when it includes facts) is often counterfactual.

Much better said, i agree

Re: Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

#160

Post by martin_drapeau »

enobrev wrote: post #68
partiallypro wrote: post #18

I think there is a genuine concern that Google could overreact and launch a half-baked product in pure panic of being left behind or one upped by Microsoft. There is also a fear, I think, that the ChatGPT integration with Bing/Edge could not go all that smoothly. I think it could be game changing in many ways, but I can also see both of these falling apart. Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri were thought to be g…

> Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri were thought to be good at launch In my own experience, Alexa and Google's query pucks were improving for a short time, and then got considerably worse, losing features every month until they basically stopped understanding or responding to anything but the simplest requests. A couple months after released, they expanded android auto with the same abilities, so I could "ok go…

I've been so disapointed with Siri. First, the latency is just plain aweful. Second, I tried a number of times to ask it not to interrupt me with notifications but alas, it failed to understand. I had to find the setting and toggle it myself.

Apple has a lot of work to improve that. A lot of work...

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