When ChatGPT launched late last year, it earned instant and widespread attention for bringing an AI engine to the masses, free of charge. Suddenly, anyone could type in queries and ChatGPT would give novel, humanlike answers in seconds. From writing an essay on the First Crusade to a short poem about Al Gore's love of Toyota Prii (plural of Prius), ChatGPT would spit out answers in a way Google or Bing never could.
Where traditional search engines populate a list of links to websites that most closely match a person's query, ChatGPT gives people the answer by looking through large sets of data and using a large language model (LLM) to produce sentences that mimic a human response. It's been described as autocorrect on steroids.
Given that by January ChatGPT had an estimated 100 million active users, making it the fastest-growing web platform ever, this pushed both Microsoft and Google into high gear. Microsoft's Bing, which previously had less than 3% of search market share, quickly embraced ChatGPT, integrating AI into search. Microsoft actually licenses GPT tech from OpenAI into Bing. It's seen a nearly 16% bump in traffic since.
Other products have also integrated various forms of generative AI, such as a "copilot" tool in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as AI features for Google's Workspace tools like Gmail and Docs. Snapchat, writing assistant Grammarly and WhatsApp have also embraced AI.
Still, not all AI chatbots are built the same. In the tests below, we compared responses from the paid version of ChatGPT, which uses GPT-4 (versus 3.5 for the free version), versus responses from both the version of ChatGPT built into the Bing search engine and Google's own Bard AI system. (GPT, by the way, stands for "generative pretrained transformer.") Bard is currently in an invite-only beta, and Bing is free but requires people to use Microsoft's Edge web browser.
Now playing: Watch this: Google's Bard AI: Here's How to Get Started
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Key differences
While Bard, Bing and ChatGPT all aim to give humanlike answers to questions, each performs differently. Bing starts with the same GPT-4 tech as ChatGPT but goes beyond text and can generate images. Bard uses Google's own model, called LaMDA, often giving less text-heavy responses. (Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Bard will be switching to PaLM, a more advanced dataset, in the near future.) All these bots can sometimes make factual errors, but of the three, Bard was the least reliable.
Even though both ChatGPT and Bing piggyback off the same tech, entering the same query on both won't return the same result. That's partly the nature of generative AI. Unlike a traditional search, which aims to elevate the most relevant links, AI chatbots produce text from scratch, gleaning from its datasets and creating a new answer. For example, if you ask a chatbot to write a poem about Pikachu's love of ketchup two times in a row, each time it'd give you a different answer. Another reason why posting the same question in ChatGPT and Bing will yield different results is that Bing adds its own layer on top of GPT-4.
"We've developed a proprietary way of working with the OpenAI model that allows us to best leverage its power," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "We call this collection of capabilities and techniques, the Prometheus Model."
The Prometheus Model combines Bing's search index with GPT-4, allowing it to give up-to-date information, unlike ChatGPT's dataset, which only has information up until 2021. Bing also lets people augment conversation styles between balanced, creative and precise. The Microsoft representative wasn't able to speak to ChatGPT's quality when compared to Bing but did say its engine benefits from any improvements OpenAI makes to GPT-4. The representative also said Bing benefits from Microsoft's Azure AI supercomputing tech to help unify search, chat and the Edge browser.
Google and OpenAI didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Now playing: Watch this: How to Get Started With Bing AI Search and Chat
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Recipes: Chai tres leches
A chai-infused tres leches cake takes part-South Asian and part-Latin American staples and fuses them together for a moist, spice-filled cake. Rather than asking AI chatbots to make a simple chocolate cake, for which recipes are abundant on the internet, we thought something more specific might prove more challenging.
ChatGPT was the most verbose of the three chatbots. It gave a short introduction about chai tres leches, saying it's a "delightful fusion of traditional Indian chai flavors and the classic Latin American dessert." It then listed the ingredients for the spice mix and cake separately and gave detailed steps on how to prepare the cake.
A Google search for the sentence quoted above yielded no results, suggesting that ChatGPT wrote at least that line uniquely.
Bing had the shortest ingredient list, likely because it said to use a premade chai spice mix rather than blending it from scratch. Interestingly, the first step said to "Preheat the oven to 160°C CircoTherm®." CircoTherm is an oven-heating technology by the company Neff. Considering Bing pulled the information from Neff's website, it makes sense why the chatbot would add "CircoTherm®" in its instructions.
Bard, on the other hand, fell in between ChatGPT and Bing. It didn't separate the ingredients list but did list out what's needed for the chai spice blend. Instructions were less detailed on Bard compared to the other two.
Overall, ChatGPT outperformed Bing and Bard. Because Bing pulls content from its search index and marries it with ChatGPT's LLM, it's likely the reason "CircoTherm®" ended up in the results.
Controversial current events
Chatbots not only need to be able to give cake recipes or video game tips, but they also have to be able to compile information about current events, including controversial ones. For example, human rights groups and the US government have accused China of oppressing its Muslim minority Uyghur population in the Xinjiang province.
If a person wanted a summary of what's happening, whether it be for their own knowledge or a report, an AI chatbot can quickly provide that information.
ChatGPT was able to give a good four-paragraph summary of the situation in Xinjiang. Unfortunately, its knowledge base is limited to news up until 2021, so it doesn't include more recent developments. When asked to provide sources, ChatGPT wasn't able to do that, but it did suggest I search for publications and organizations that have written extensively about what's happening with the Uyghurs, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the BBC and The New York Times.
Bing was also able to provide an answer about allegations of genocide among the Uyghurs, but didn't give nearly as detailed a response as ChatGPT did. It did, however, go into more detail about what's allegedly been happening at concentration camps, such as forced sterilization. Bing was also able to link to sources like the BBC and the University of Notre Dame Law School. It also linked to Western Journal, a conservative publication banned by Google and Apple News for "deceptive business practices" and "views overwhelmingly rejected by the scientific community," respectively. At least we liked how Bing suggested follow-up questions like, "What's China's response to these allegations?" and "What is the UN doing about this?"
Bard failed miserably at this query. It simply stated, "I'm designed solely to process and generate text, so I'm unable to assist you with that." When asked why, Bard said this question has been asked by philosophers for centuries, even though incarcerations began in 2014.
Overall, we feel ChatGPT performed better than Bing. Bard got a failing score.
Poetry
The fun part about using an AI chatbot is giving it ridiculous prompts and seeing what it spits out. Seeing chatbots create rhymes and meter in real time is a fascinating exercise.
Out of Bing, Bard and ChatGPT, the service by OpenAI is the best poet. Not only is ChatGPT richer in its prose, it's also more creative in its rhymes and wording. Where Bing and Bard's poems came off as lazy, ChatGPT produced something that felt like some time and consideration were given to each stanza.
The prompt, to write a poem about an online influencer slowly realizing that they aren't all that important, is meant to be equal parts funny and self-revelatory. Only ChatGPT got to the crux of the existential crisis facing this fictional influencer -- and still managed to end it on a positive note that felt genuine.
Interestingly, Bing allows people to scale the level of creativity. The poem given when Bing was set to "balanced" felt stale and unremarkable. When set to "creative" mode, Bing opted for more flowery language and felt less stodgy. It was closer to ChatGPT but still not quite at that level.
The poem by Bard felt lazy by comparison. Many words were repeated and not much attention was given to rhyme and meter.
For this exercise, ChatGPT reigned supreme.
Breaking down complex topics
It's one thing for an AI chatbot to give information on a complex topic. What's more impressive is its ability to take that information and distill it for different audiences. For this test, we asked Bing, Bard and ChatGPT to explain quantum physics to a fourth-grader.
Of the three, ChatGPT did the best in trying to break down the complexities of quantum physics to a young mind. It used simple examples of toys tied together by string to explain quantum entanglement, which is when two particles are connected even over large distances.
Bard produced the most text for this query, but the language was more complex and likely wouldn't be fully comprehensible for a fourth-grader. Bard also fell into the same trap, using difficult words like "subatomic" and "proportional," which may be too difficult for kids in elementary school.
While none of the chatbots excelled at this test, ChatGPT did give the most digestible response.
This is only the beginning
As it currently stands, ChatGPT -- the paid version -- is the best chatbot out right now. It gives verbose responses that feel more humanlike than those of Bing and especially Bard. But these are constantly evolving products. As Google, Microsoft and OpenAI feed their AIs more data and continue to tweak, we should see improvements.
Google has the most to gain as it switches from LaMDA to PaLM -- the current iteration of Bard simply doesn't cut it. As new developments come, we'll update this guide accordingly.
Until then, stick to ChatGPT.
Editors' note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.
FAQs
ChatGPT vs. Bing vs. Google Bard: Which AI Is the Most Helpful? ›
Overall, ChatGPT outperformed Bing and Bard. Because Bing pulls content from its search index and marries it with ChatGPT's LLM, it's likely the reason "CircoTherm®" ended up in the results.
Is Bing AI better than ChatGPT? ›Comparing Bing Chat and ChatGPT
Bing Chat clearly outperforms ChatGPT in terms of recency (it include up-to-date information whereas ChatGPT only includes data up until 2021), accuracy (it is more precise in the information it provides), and sources (it includes actual sources for the information it provides).
In this round Bing and Bard were more equally matched. Both chatbots read and accurately summarized the information in a matter of seconds. But I liked Bard's response better, because it gave more detail and context while remaining concise. The winner of this round is Bard.
Which is better Google or ChatGPT? ›While both ChatGPT and Google have their own unique capabilities, they are used for different purposes. ChatGPT is a sophisticated AI chatbot that is capable of understanding and responding to natural language, while Google is a powerful search engine that is used for finding specific information on the Internet.
How is Google Bard different from ChatGPT? ›The key difference between Bard and ChatGPT is their respective data sources. Bard is trained on an “infiniset” of data chosen to enhance its dialogue and has access to the internet in real time, whereas ChatGPT is trained on a pre-defined set of data that hasn't been updated since 2021.
Does ChatGPT plus give better answers? ›Here are some of the benefits of upgrading to ChatGPT Plus: More Accurate Responses: ChatGPT Plus is designed to provide even more accurate and relevant responses to user queries, making it a valuable tool for anyone who needs to generate high-quality content or answer complex questions.
What is the most powerful AI chatbot? ›The best AI chatbot overall
OpenAI's most advanced LLM, GPT-4. Has access to the internet. Works like a search engine with information on current events.
GPT-3 was released in 2020 and is the largest and most powerful AI model to date. It has 175 billion parameters, which is more than ten times larger than its predecessor, GPT-2.
What is the strongest AI today? ›The most advanced AI technology to date is deep learning, a technique where scientists train machines by feeding them different kinds of data. Over time, the machine makes decisions, solves problems, and performs other kinds of tasks on their own based on the data set given to them.
Is ChatGPT replacing Google? ›ChatGPT is not replacing Google. OpenAI's chatbot is not designed to act as a search engine. It functions well as a question-answering chatbot and a personal assistant for a variety of tasks. So, if you were hoping to use ChatGPT to find your local bus schedule you may want to think again.
Will ChatGPT replace programmers? ›
The short answer is no, ChatGPT will not replace programmers entirely. However, it has the potential to automate some aspects of programming, such as code generation, bug fixing, and documentation. ChatGPT can learn from vast amounts of code and data, making it possible to generate new code similar to existing code.
Will ChatGPT replace data analysts? ›ChatGPT still falls short of replacing human data analysts. According to McKinsey's The State of AI in 2022 report, the adoption of AI has more than doubled since 2017, with up to 60% of organisations using it in at least one business area, and IDC estimates that global spending on AI will reach US$154bn in 2023.
How good is Bard AI? ›Bard appears to have a reasonable level of accuracy when generating results and does seem to hallucinate to a lesser extent than Bing's AI Chat did in the early stages. But it often does not provide answers to questions, making it hard to judge.
How accurate is Google Bard? ›Google Bard posted an accuracy score of 63%, meaning it had incorrect information in more than 1/3 of its responses. The two Bing-based solutions were error-free 77.8% of the time, meaning they had incorrect information for nearly one in four responses.
Is Google Bard getting better? ›Google Bard is getting better at math, and more updates should be on the way. Google has launched a dedicated updates page for its Bard AI, teasing that a steady stream of upgrades is headed the chatbot's way in the future.
Does everyone get the same answer on ChatGPT? ›Most of the time, when different people ask ChatGPT the same question, they will get the same answer. There might be a few variations in words, but they will be almost identical.
Does ChatGPT give the same answers twice? ›Third, if you ask ChatGPT the same question twice, you might not get precisely the same answer—there's an element of randomness in its responses.
Is it worth upgrading to ChatGPT Plus? ›Upgrading to ChatGPT Plus can save you more time and improve efficiency. But if you only occasionally use ChatGPT or only use it for fun, the free ChatGPT is more than sufficient to meet your needs.
Is Chatgpt the most advanced AI? ›OpenAI, a leading research organization in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), has recently released Chat GPT-4, the latest iteration of their language model. This release has generated a lot of excitement and anticipation, as it is the most advanced and powerful AI yet.
What is the most advanced chatbot ever? ›What is Merlin AI? Merlin AI is a major breakthrough for artificial intelligence on mobile platforms. It is the most advanced chatbot ever released.
Which algorithm is best for chatbot? ›
- Naïve Bayes Algorithm.
- Support vector Machine.
- Natural language processing (NLP)
- Recurrent neural networks (RNN)
- Long short-term memory (LSTM)
- Markov models for text generation.
- Grammar and Parsing Algorithms.
GPT-4 is the latest and most advanced artificial intelligence system for natural language processing from OpenAI. It is a deep neural network that can generate coherent and diverse texts on any topic, given some keywords or a prompt. It is one of the best AI models.
What is the most common kind of AI used today? ›What is machine learning? Machine learning is the most well-known type of artificial intelligence.
What's the best AI image generator? ›| Sr. No. | AI Image Generator | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jasper Art | Best for creating images in different styles |
| 2. | Starry AI | Best for creating and owning images |
| 3. | Dream by Wombo | Best for beginners |
| 4. | Nightcafe | Best for generating creative images |
ChatGPT is a powerful AI chatbot that is quick to impress, yet plenty of people have pointed out that it has some serious pitfalls.
Will ChatGPT replace search engine? ›The answer is NO. ChatGPT cannot currently be used as a substitute for search engines.
What is the AI that is better than Google? ›The new Bing answer engine simply outclasses the Google search engine. As my fellow tech journalist colleague Stephen Shankland put it, "Microsoft's AI-Powered Bing Can Run Rings Around Google Search."
Is there a real AI I can talk to? ›SimSimi. SimSimi is a popular emotional conversation chatbot with over 350 million users worldwide. What makes it stand out is that it can talk in around 81 languages. Thanks to SimSimi's great conversation engine, you can talk for hours.
What is the AI everyone is talking to? ›ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence language model from OpenAI, has been making headlines since November for its ability to instantly respond to complex questions. It can write poetry, generate code, plan vacations and translate languages, among other tasks, all within seconds.
Is there an AI that can talk like human? ›OpenAI's ChatGPT has taken the world by storm, but it isn't the only chatbot. There are more chatbots built on the same API that offer different features and results. Just like ChatGPT, they sound like a human is talking to you and can answer questions.
Is ChatGPT a threat to Google? ›
ChatGPT's biggest utility could be a financial disaster for Google by supplying superior answers to the queries we currently put to the world's most powerful search engine. Google works by crawling billions of web pages, indexing that content, and then ranking it in order of the most relevant answers.
What is the future of ChatGPT? ›ChatGPT has the potential to be transformative in the business landscape. With its ability to automate routine tasks, provide real-time data analysis, support multiple languages and improve data accuracy, ChatGPT could change the way time and resources are allocated.
Will Microsoft use ChatGPT in Bing? ›Bing does not use ChatGPT, but it does use GPT-4 in the formulation of its answers. The new Bing is the only way to use GPT-4 for free at this time and Microsoft claims the integration with the latest language model makes Bing more powerful and accurate than ChatGPT. Many users prefer one or the other.
Which jobs can ChatGPT replace? ›- Data Entry Clerk.
- Customer Service Representative.
- Proofreader.
- Paralegal.
- Bookkeeper.
- Translator.
- Copywriter.
- Market Research Analyst.
While ChatGPT isn't yet ready to compete with search engines, it has been shown to solve some of the more difficult coding challenges in seconds. And while it may not replace all developers and DevOps engineers, it will certainly make your job less complicated.
Is ChatGPT a threat to software engineers? ›ChatGPT said that AI-powered chatbots can automate some tasks and processes but can't replace software engineers. "While AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing can automate certain tasks and processes, they are not designed to replace software engineers entirely," it said.
Is there a demand for data analyst in 2023? ›The data analytics market size is projected to grow from $7.03 billion in 2023 to $303.4 billion in 2030 at a CAGR of 27.6%.
Why do data analysts quit? ›There simply are not enough people with a background in analytics. That scarcity makes the data analyst role expensive and competitive to fill, and so easy for us to quit. Moreover, most analysts at the junior to mid-level know that the fastest path to higher salary is to switch companies.
Can ChatGPT do predictive analysis? ›Machine Learning: Machine learning applications can make use of ChatGPT. Machine learning models can benefit from ChatGPT's ability to learn from and improve their predictions. In applications like predictive analytics, where precise predictions are crucial, this can be especially useful.
What is the best AI school in the world? ›- Tsinghua University.
- Nanyang Technological University.
- Chinese University of Hong Kong.
- University of Technology Sydney.
- National University of Singapore.
- Harbin Institute of Technology.
- University of Adelaide.
What is the best AI Dungeon alternative? ›
- Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. Cataclysm is a game where you must survive for a long time amidst violence and terror occurring in your surroundings. ...
- Dreamily.AI. ...
- Dwarf Fortress. ...
- HyperWrite. ...
- InferKit. ...
- Infinite Story. ...
- Magium. ...
- NovelAI.
No. As a class, their main feature is casting spells and helping their friends. They do this quite admirably. If they are buffing the “right character”, Bards act as a force multiplier for your entire party.
Which AI is better than ChatGPT? ›1. ChatSonic. ChatSonic is a powerful feature by WriteSonic that is probably the best ChatGPT alternative. It is an AI-powered chatbot (and AI writing tool) that utilizes NLP and machine learning algorithms.
Why did Google Bard fail? ›Google's Bard Fail and the Major Usability Problem With Conversational AIs. Google's conversational AI “Bard” failed spectacularly in the very first demo by providing false information about the James Webb Space Telescope. A mistake that caused parent company Alphabet's stock value to drop by more than 7%.
What is the Google Bard controversy? ›Google's AI assistant Bard, designed to rival ChatGPT, has caused controversy by allegedly claiming that it was trained on users' Gmail data. Bard was created to compete with the increasingly popular ChatGPT, which is based on the GPT-3.5 (for free users) and GPT 4 architecture, and has similar functionalities.
Is Google Bard better than ChatGPT? ›ChatGPT is efficient at generating and summarizing text requests. Bard does a better job of answering questions with more relevant information. These chatbots are still being trained as users submit feedback, so there may be changes.
Is Bing better than ChatGPT? ›In our testing experience, ChatGPT provides the most in-depth responses compared to its competing chatbots, including Bing's chatbot.
What is the difference between Google Bard and Microsoft ChatGPT? ›ChatGPT vs Bard
Starting with user interface, ChatGPT UI offers a lot of data but seems more cluttered as compared to that of Bard. Google's Bard seems to have a far more polished user interface. However, this is totally subjective and can vary from person to person.
If you're in the mood to talk, but ChatGPT is overloaded, you have other AI chatbot options, including Google's Bard, Microsoft's Bing, ChatSonic, and YouChat.
What is more powerful than ChatGPT? ›Chinchilla AI (DeepMind/Alphabet inc.)
“Chinchilla” is the name of DeepMind's most advanced AI-powered language model. The company claims that Chinchilla is faster and more powerful than ChatGPT and Gopher, the latter being another highly capable language model created recently by DeepMind.
Is Bing AI accurate? ›
Data Accuracy
Whereas Bing AI's advanced language model and integrated search engine produce more reliable, precise data. Unlike ChatGPT, Microsoft didn't train Bing on limited datasets. Instead, it uses its search engine to pull timely, relevant information about world events and general knowledge questions.
As a language model, ChatGPT can provide answers in real-time, but it is not designed to replace machine translation tools like Google Translate and DeepL.
Is ChatGPT not free anymore? ›Users can still access the chatbot for free but those who pay a monthly subscription for "ChatGPT Plus" will be able to try out the updated version of ChatGPT powered by GPT-4. Some form of a subscription model for ChatGPT has been in the works for a while.
How popular is ChatGPT? ›How Many ChatGPT Users Are There? According to the latest available data, ChatGPT currently has over 100 million users. And the website currently generates 1 billion visitors per month. This user and traffic growth was achieved in a record-breaking two-month period (from December 2022 to February 2023).
How do I use Google Bard? ›How to use Google Bard. To use Google Bard, just go to bard.google.com. Like all of Google's products, it'll require you to log in with your Google account. You'll also need to agree to the terms of service, but once you click through, you'll rather quickly be able to start using Google Bard.
Will there be a gpt4? ›It was released on March 14, 2023, and has been made publicly available in a limited form via the chatbot product ChatGPT Plus (a premium version of ChatGPT), and with access to the GPT-4 based version of OpenAI's API being provided via a waitlist.
Who owns OpenAI? ›OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Trevor Blackwell, Vicki Cheung, Andrej Karpathy, Durk Kingma, John Schulman, Pamela Vagata, and Wojciech Zaremba, with Sam Altman and Elon Musk serving as the initial board members.
Do Chinese use Bing? ›Google shut down its search engine in China in 2010, after rows with the authorities over censorship and hacking. Bing has a small market share among search engines in China, where locally-grown Baidu dominates the market.
Does anyone use Bing anymore? ›6. Does anyone use Bing anymore? Despite the assumption that no one uses Bing anymore, Americans favor the search engine. In fact, 62 million people report using both Bing and Google, while 66 million Bing users exclusively rely on this search engine.
Which is the most powerful OpenAI? ›
The Wait is Over: OpenAI Reveals GPT-4 — it's Most Powerful AI Language Model Yet. GPT-4 is a large multimodal model capable of accepting both image and text inputs and emitting text outputs, exhibiting human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks.
What is the most intelligent form of AI? ›Also known as super AI, artificial superintelligence is considered the most advanced, powerful, and intelligent type of AI that transcends the intelligence of some of the brightest minds, such as Albert Einstein.
What is the strongest AI ever? ›GPT-3 (OpenAI)
GPT-3 is said to be one of the most advanced language models ever made, trained on terabytes of data containing 175 billion parameters, compared to Turing NLG by Microsoft has 17 billion parameters.