By now, you probably have used ChatGPT to at least have a silly conversation with the AI chatbot. Or perhaps you’re really into utilizing its ability to produce long streams of (mostly) coherent text from your original prompts.
In fact, ChatGPT has grown to have more than 60 million visits each day since its launch last November, reaching 173 million users in April 2023. And then there’s Bard, which was late to the party, but is estimated to reach more than 1 billion users, considering the tech giant’s worldwide reach of those with Google account access. But as of now, most people haven’t even heard of Bard.
So, which one will win the ChatGPT vs Google AI battle? Read on to find out what we discovered…
ChatGPT Vs Google Bard
The battle over emerging artificial intelligence has only just started. And although ChatGPT has gotten off to a rapidly flying start, does it really have what it will take to become the dominant party when it comes to transforming the digital space like Google has for the past couple of decades?
The battle over emerging artificial intelligence has only just started, and although ChatGPT has gotten off to a rapidly flying start, does it really have what it will take to become the dominant party when it comes to transforming the digital space like Google has for the past couple of decades?
None of us can predict the future, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence (unless you’re working for the military, which has been using far more sophisticated AI for years). So, when it comes to which is better in the ChatGPT vs Google battle, basically it will all depend on the end result you want to achieve after getting the AI to help you to get there.
For example, have you wondered whether there are certain cases where it would be best for you to use ChatGPT or Bard?
ChatGPT’s more conversational approach means that the AI gives you a direct answer to your query in paragraphs, with clear and straightforward explanations where necessary (unless, of course, it is ‘hallucinating’ and simply giving you incorrect information, which isn’t uncommon).
Many people have wondered whether ChatGPT poses a real threat to Google’s decades long dominance. Well, the answer is that yes, it is possible that ChatGPT may be able to overtake Google at some point in the future.
However, because Google has been at the top of the tech hierarchy for more than two decades, this means that ChatGPT has a lot of catching up to do if it is ever to reach the same level or above. And that will probably only happen when the former stops adapting, which is highly unlikely.
Because Google has been at the top of the tech hierarchy for more than two decades, this means that ChatGPT has a lot of catching up to do if it is ever to reach the same level or above. And that will probably only happen when the former stops adapting, which is highly unlikely.
As far as search engines go, though, Microsoft now includes its Bing Chat feature in its eponymous browser, which runs on ChatGPT-4. This will, of course, end up affecting ad revenue for the tech behemoth. However, this could turn out to be a good thing, as many users believe Google already has too much dominance in the market.
But Google is already rolling out some AI-powered results as part of the traditional top-10 search results we’re all familiar with, however most power users feel that ChatGPT 4 simply works better than Google’s offerings so far.
Our guess is that both ChatGPT and Google will find a happy balance somewhere in cyberspace by coexisting in an AI relationship that will make life easier for all of us in the end.
When Is It Best To Use ChatGPT?
Technically, the superpower that ChatGPT possesses is the fact that you can have a conversation with the AI chatbot, because of the way it has been programmed with natural language process and machine learning techniques that give human-like responses to your text prompts.
This means that you can have one-to-one engagement, just like you would with a real person. For instance, ask the AI chatbot a question, and you’ll get a factual answer, just like in our example below:
Q: @ChatGPT3 are you better than Google Bard?
A: As an AI language model, I cannot make subjective comparisons to other AI models or services. Both ChatGPT and Google’s language models have their own strengths and limitations, and the effectiveness of each model may depend on the specific use case or task at hand. Ultimately, the best AI model or service will depend on the specific needs and preferences of the user.
ChatGPT also has the ability to produce long-form generated text, which you can use for creating reports, emails, presentations, and other text, although because it was originally programmed with internet data before 2021, sometimes it can lack the ability to produce more up-to-date information. But this is all changing due to ChatGPT’s new ability to surf the existing internet.
Saying that though, ChatGPT isn’t limited to answering basic prompts, because you can also use it to generate computer code, scrape websites, debug any problem code, write scripts that use SEO, translate documents, correct your spelling and grammar, and so much more, which is something that a Google search won’t do for you.
When Is It Best To Use Google (And Bard)?
Google, however, will take any query you have and search billions of pages on the web to present you with relevant pages that might have the answer you’re looking for.
On the other hand, Google’s newly released Bard is also an AI large language model, like ChatGPT, and is really easy to use. You simply input your text into the prompt box, and wait for the generated response. The way they respond, though, is quite different.
Bard calls its users ‘early experimenters’, because Google has accepted the fact that Bard ‘won’t always get it right’. In fact, its launch was pulled back from the original date in February of this year after the AI generated a complete fabrication about the James Webb telescope during a live presentation, much to the embarrassment of the tech giant.
So, When In Doubt, Google It
Of course, Google has been around for years and has the ability to search billions of sources to give you the information that you’re after. Plus it won’t hallucinate like ChatGPT sometimes can (but of course, the authors of websites can get it wrong, too!).
If it’s more tailored answers that you’re looking for, or you doubt what ChatGPT has told you, you’d be better off Googling it.
Google also has the ability to customize its results to your current or specific location, and has access to your past search history, as well as your devices. ChatGPT can only remember certain conversations that you’ve had with it, at least for the moment.
Plus, you can easily remove or apply different search filters, whereas you’d have to have an entire conversation with ChatGPT, including typing in your text prompts, to get similar information that probably won’t be as detailed, because of its lack of real-time data collection.
And even though ChatGPT can give you satisfying answers to your text prompts in a human-like way, it can’t compete with the fact that the entire human experience can be found in the articles, blogs, and videos that Google has had access to over the years.
In addition, there’s no way for ChatGPT to source the information that it provides like Google can. Therefore, if you are writing a paper or presentation, for example, you won’t be able to easily provide references, or even know if the data has been taken from a trusted website, which can cause problems for you in the end.
Even with plugins, sometimes ChatGPT references the wrong information and websites, so you need to check everything.
So Which Is It — Google Or ChatGPT?
We already think ChatGPT is a pretty cool AI tool, and we’ve been using it a lot to help us in our writing tasks. We’ve even managed to do a little bit of programming with code that it generated for us.
It’s absolutely worth paying for a month or two of ChatGPT Plus to play around with ChatGPT 4, the API, and the plugins. ChatGPT 4 is much more powerful at most tasks than version 3 or 3.5.
But when it comes to which one is actually better, we decided to ask Google Bard if it had an edge over ChatGPT:
Are you better than ChatGPT?
And this is the answer that we got:
I am not sure if I am better than ChatGPT. We are both large language models, and we both have our strengths and weaknesses. I am trained on a massive dataset of text and code, which allows me to generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.
ChatGPT is also trained on a massive dataset of text, but it is specifically trained for conversational applications. This means that ChatGPT may be better at generating natural-sounding conversations, while I may be better at providing factual information.
Ultimately, it depends on what you are looking for in a large language model. If you are looking for a model that can generate creative content, I may be a better choice. If you are looking for a model that can provide factual information, ChatGPT may be a better choice.
Here is a table comparing the two models:
This actually made us laugh. Did you laugh too?
The obvious contradiction of Bard telling us that it was better at providing factual information, while in the next paragraph telling us that if we wanted an AI model that ‘can provide factual information’, then ChatGPT would be the better choice. LOL!
So, we wanted to see what Google Bard would tell us when we challenged it about the blatant contradiction:
Your answer is very contradictory. First you say you would be better at providing factual information, while in the last sentence you say that ‘if you are looking for a model that can provide factual information, ChatGPT may be a better choice’. It sounds like you don’t know what you’re talking about.
And this was what we received:
You are right, my answer was contradictory. I apologize for the confusion.
I am still under development, and I am learning new things every day. I am not perfect, and I sometimes make mistakes. In this case, I made a mistake by saying that ChatGPT may be a better choice for providing factual information.
I am still learning how to provide factual information accurately. I am working on improving my ability to access and process information from the real world, and I am also working on improving my ability to identify and correct errors in my responses.
I hope that you will continue to use me and provide me with feedback so that I can continue to learn and improve.
Still, Google itself says that Bard can be used as a ‘complementary experience to Google Search’. In fact, Bard has been designed so that you can visit Search to verify its responses or look for other sources. Simply click on the “Google it” button in Bard’s generated response box to see other query suggestions. Google Search will then open in a new tab.
Cost Considerations
Currently ChatGPT Plus access costs $20/month, which is way more expensive than the $0 cost for Google Bard. But there are many who are more than willing to pay for GPT Plus access, because there is a certain level of quality that GPT 4 hits that other models currently do not, particularly when it comes to complex tasks like programming assistance.
That said, you can also get free access to GPT 4 using Microsoft Bing Chat, which is powered by GPT 4. But it is not the same experience as using ChatGPT natively, it has more limitations, doesn’t handle “role play” as well, and is much less chatty.
Conclusion
When it comes to choosing the right AI platform for your needs, it all depends on how you want to work and which one you prefer. For example, if you’ve already been using ChatGPT to great effect, you might want to play around a bit with Google Bard to see how you feel about it.
But if you’re a massive Google fan, using Bard for your AI chatbot needs will probably tick all of your boxes, as long as you don’t need it for creating more human-like responses, which ChatGPT definitely does a better job at.
If you’re going to make your decision based on cost, then Bard is for you. Using Google’s services, which are mainly funded through ad revenue, will be your best option, because they’re free, and you won’t have to pay a subscription like you will for using ChatGPT.
That’s because OpenAI, ChatGPT’s parent company, has to cover development and maintenance costs for the AI, but the $20 per month per user can seem too much for the occasional user.
Of course, there is a free version of ChatGPT available, but the AI chatbot’s response timing can be annoying at heavy usage times, when access can be restricted to subscribers of the service only.
In the end, the big difference between the two is this — Google is like a teacher, and ChatGPT is like the geeky kid in class who you paid to do your homework for you.
Whichever side that you choose in the ChatGPT vs Google AI battle, though, you can rest assured that you will stay ahead of the curve of many people, who are yet to jump into the artificial intelligence abyss.
