In this article, you’ll learn about large language model products ChatGPT and Google Bard. We’ll compare the two to help you choose the right tool to boost your productivity.
The artificial intelligence industry has attained a significant milestone with the advent of Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs) and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERTs). OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are two of the most popular products in the market derived from the application of GPTs and BERTs. Without delving into technicalities, you’ll better understand ChatGPT and Bard and why you might use one over the other.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT, short for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, is a chatbot that understands and generates human-like text. It is known for its ability to engage in dynamic and coherent conversations across a broad range of topics. ChatGPT was launched in November 2022 by American artificial intelligence company OpenAI. When you log in to the ChatGPT application, you’ll find an interface to input your message to the chatbot while you await a response in a few seconds.
What is Bard?
With the rise of ChatGPT, Google launched Bard in March 2023, a conversational generative artificial intelligence chatbot. It shares a similar interface to ChatGPT. A user can interact with the chatbot through the input field while it generates an appropriate response in seconds.
ChatGPT vs Google Bard: Pros and Cons
Let’s take a closer look at ChatGPT and Bard detailing the pros and cons of each AI chatbot.
ChatGPT Pros:
- It has a simple and easy-to-use interface.
- As the name suggests ChatGPT is very chatty and can hold natural and coherent context-based conversations with a user.
- There is a better understanding of context with subsequent questions from a user.
- The AI chatbot is versatile as it can be a chat buddy or a powerful personal assistant depending on what you throw at it.
- It is more assertive in its responses when asked certain questions.
- ChatGPT can handle more technical tasks like code reviews.
- Chats and responses can be exported for use elsewhere.
Cons:
- ChatGPT is trained on limited data only available up to 2021.
- The chatbot is versatile but might struggle where specialization is required.
- It does not include images as part of its responses.
- It might generate good responses which are inaccurate.
- There is a premium version which offers better results and features.
Bard Pros:
- It is better adapted for research and academic work.
- It includes images where necessary in its response.
- In some cases, Bard’s responses come in three drafts, you get to pick which tone suits your needs better.
- Very often, links to results are included in chats for further reading by the user.
- Since Bard is a Google product, data is sourced from the web daily to improve responses.
- Bard can handle language translation.
- It gives more objective answers and is better suited for learning.
Cons:
- It lacks a better understanding of context and open-ended conversations.
- It provides shorter answers in comparison to ChatGPT.
- Bard is still in the experimental phase.
Conclusion
While ChatGPT and Bard are the most popular AI chatbots, several other products have been launched with different specializations in mind.
The decision to use ChatGPT or Bard depends on the task in mind. If you want to research a topic Bard might be the tool for you. In the case you need some virtual personal assistant then ChatGPT is highly recommended.
My preferred tool between the two is ChatGPT because it is quite versatile across different niches. It understands context better and would respond accordingly based on previous chats. When performing a coding task/code review, the OpenAI chatbot performed better than its Google rival. The ChatGPT outperforms Bard on several fronts when given similar tasks.