Google’s AI bot mistake wipes $100bn off shares

Google is looking for ways to reassure people that it’s still ahead in the race for the best artificial intelligence technology.

And so far, the internet giant seems to be giving the wrong answer.

An ad aimed at showcasing his new AI bot showed him answering a question incorrectly.

Shares of parent company Alphabet fell more than 7% on Wednesday, taking $100 billion (£82 billion) from the company’s market value.

In the Advertisement for the botknown as Bard, which was posted on Twitter on Monday, the bot was asked what to tell a nine-year-old about discoveries made by the James Webb Space Telescope.

There was a response that the telescope was the first to take pictures of a planet outside of Earth’s solar system, when in fact that milestone was claimed by the European Very Large Telescope in 2004 – a mistake quickly noticed by astronomers on Twitter became.

“Why didn’t you fact-check this example before sharing it?” Chris Harrison, Fellow at Newcastle University, answered to the tweet.

Investors were also stunned by a presentation from the company about its plans to use artificial intelligence in its products.

Google has been under pressure since late last year when Microsoft-backed OpenAI unveiled new ChatGPT software. It quickly became a viral hit for his institution, passing business school exams, composing song lyrics and answering other questions.

Microsoft said this week that a new version of its Bing search engine, which has lagged behind Google for years, would use ChatGPT technology in an even more advanced form.

Although investors have welcomed the push for artificial intelligence, skeptics have warned that hasty adoption of the technology risks bugs or otherwise skewed results, as well as plagiarism issues.

A Google spokesman said the error “highlights the importance of a rigorous testing process, something we’re launching this week with our Trusted Tester program.”

“We will combine external feedback with our own internal testing to ensure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, certainty and roundness in real-world information,” they said.