ChatGPT vs. Bard: Which AI Chatbot Should You Use?

Last Updated on February 17, 2023

ChatGPT unexpectedly dominated headlines for months, ushering in an artificial intelligence arms race.

With the news release of Google’s Bard being launched in its beta mode (not fully released to the general public yet), the question is, which large language model (LLM) is going to dominate?

So bring out the popcorn and enjoy a front-row live-action seat to the ultimate showdown between the two largest tech giants. 

Which Is The Better AI Chatbot: Bard vs. ChatGPT?

In the first corner, we have OpenAI. What might have been once dismissed as a small startup in San Francisco is now backed by BILLIONS of dollars by Microsoft, a company known for Word and Teams but not so much with search engines (Bing who?). Will Microsoft make a major comeback in the search engine game?

Also important to note, OpenAI is a non-profit company that publishes its research. This allows other platforms and companies to build greater and better products.

In the opposite corner, we have Deep Mind backed by Google. The tech giant that has dominated the search engine (I mean, do you say let’s search or lets Google?). Unquestionably, they are the leader of the industry.

So now that Google has announced the Bard release, which AI chatbot will be better?

Round 1: Who Has the Better Technology?

If you’re new to the AI chatbot game, it’s important to understand what type of technology backs them in the first place.

Let’s break down some basic terms:

So, to summarize, ChatGPT and Bard are both LLM-based chatbots that use machine learning and NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology to generate texts based on the prompts you give them. The main difference between the two is in their architecture. ChatGPT is based on OpenAI’s GPT-3, while Bard uses Google’s LaMDA technology.

In the end, it really comes down to which of these two technologies you prefer and how well you can customize them for your own chatbot needs. So stay tuned as we delve deeper into each of these AI.

ChatGPT Technology

GPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) is the name of the most popular language model, which was developed by OpenAI to create text.

We are now on the third generation of this model, hence the name GPT3. 

GPT3 was released in May 2020 and has crawled billions of articles, webpages, and forums to better understand the human language, and it is the largest language model to date. This is why it is able to respond back with so much human accuracy.

ChatGPT uses GPT3 technology to create its chatbot. 

Bard Technology

LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) is the language model created and developed by DeepMind to help create conversational text.

But Google is also in possession of Pathways or PaLM LLM, which uses 540 billion parameters. This is not currently released in the chatbots as of yet, but something to come.

ChatGPT and Bart Comparison

Both use highly intelligent and large language models to be able to create text.

Round 1 Winner? ChatGPT

Currently, GPT3 is the largest language model on the market and is intended for many more uses than LaMBDA’s dialogue intent.

So hands down, the winner goes to ChatGPT when it comes to having amazing technology. Most of the AI platforms you may be seeing (such as AI writers) are also utilizing GPT3 technology.

But I think we may see this change in the upcoming years when LaMDA and PaLM are released.

Round 2: How Accurate Is The Information?

Now that we know the technology that backs each of these smart chatbots, the next question you should always ask yourself is:

Can I trust the information I get from this chatbot?

Here’s the quick and dirty on what you can expect for the accuracy of both. 

Round 2 Winner? Bard

Right now, ChatGPT and Bard have both been shown to make errors and are at risk for bias. There’s been a lot of hype over the blunder of Bard’s demo, but we’ve seen these errors with ChatGPT as well. Any information you use from these during the early stages should be fact-checked and verified.

However, Bard will be pulling from real-time data and is not paused in 2021, which is why it wins this round. Also, I would bet Google will try to provide accurate information for their AI-powered chatbot as their reputation is at stake.

Round 3: What Type of Content Does the Chatbot Create?

The next question you’re likely asking yourself is what type of content these chatbots are capable of.

ChatGPT has the following functions so far:

Bard (from news release information thus far) will be capable of the following:

Round 3 Winner? ChatGPT

From what we know so far, ChatGPT is the winner as it does more than write essays or answer questions. It writes code, helps you with excel equations, and is basically a smart AI assistant.

Round 4: Which Will Be Better: Google Search or Bing Search Engine?

Unless you’re a freelance writer, a student trying to let AI write your essays for you or a coder that needs help, odds are the general population may be wondering if it’s an overhyped piece of technology that will ever translate into everyday use.

My personal opinion is we will see this take over the traditional search engine.

Instead of scanning ten articles to find what we need, the search engine will be able to compute the answer for you. So the question will be, is Bing going to have a major comeback?

You can see how Google plans to implement Bard and also why they’re slower to release their product. Google is considered a very reliable resource for information, so mistakes here can be costly to the company’s reputation.

Round 4 Winner? Google Bard (Personal Decision)

This is just my personal opinion, but it’s hard to break habits. Despite ChatGPT’s amazing technology, people go to Google because it’s a reliable source of information to answer their search intent.

Google has more hanging on the line. If I had to speculate, I think Google is the tortoise in this race, not the hare.

Round 5: What’s the Cost Different between the two?

If you’re looking to integrate Bard and ChatGPT permanently into your workflow, then you’ll need reliable access.

ChatGPT has been free for use since its launch, but there’s been one major caveat: it’s often unavailable. That’s because there are hundreds of thousands of users trying to utilize it at the same time, so when you need it, then it may not be available.

For this reason, they launched ChatGPT Plus, which gives you guaranteed access and priority. There is currently a waitlist as this is still in the pilot program as well, but it will come in at $20/month.

Bard so far will remain free, but it has a lot fewer uses than ChatGPT.

Round 5 Winner? ChatGPT

Because ChatGPT is actually available right now, clearly, they’re the winner.

Take Home Points

If you’re looking to see which AI chatbot is going to win the AI arms race, it’s simply too soon to tell. ChatGPT is much more versatile in its use, thanks to its ability to help with coding, math problems, and even formulas for excel sheets. 

Google’s entire goal is to help organize the world’s knowledge to match the users’ queries- not an easy task to do. We expect the investments they have made into their AI technology will likely pay off, but we may need more time to see it. They have a reputation to maintain, so they’re performing vigorous internal testing to be sure their answer is accurate. 

So Google may likely remain the go-to for search, whether that’s through Google or Bard.

It’s up to the consumer to decide which will be better for them, as both have unique benefits that may or may not fit their needs.

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