Our tech columnist has access to Bard, Google’s new answer to ChatGPT. What would you like to ask it?

But what’s Bard good for? I don’t think even Google knows yet, which is one reason it’s releasing Bard slowly. I’m among the first to get access to Bard at its debut today, and I’m spending the day chatting with it and reporting what I find here.

You can help me. Send me an email about what you’d like to ask Bard, and I’ll share its interesting replies.

On its surface, Bard looks a lot like ChatGPT, the AI bot from research lab OpenAI that went viral late last year and got a big update last week. Millions of people have tried that AI, and it has been integrated into Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Snapchat’s My AI virtual friend. ChatGPT is also notorious for sometimes going off the rails with creepy, or very inappropriate, responses.

Bard is a little late to the chatbot party, but is still important because Google has spent years developing the underlying technology called LaMDA, short for Language Model for Dialogue Applications. This is far-out stuff: Last year, Google fired an engineer for publicly claiming LaMDA was sentient. Google says no, its AI is actually just a “prediction engine,” or a very fancy version of auto-complete. It responds to a prompt by selecting, one word at a time, the words that are likely to come next.

Is Bard a new kind of Google search? You can ask it for facts, but Google insists it’s not a replacement for the world’s No. 1 search engine (which is getting its own AI enhancements in the weeks ahead). Bard lives on its own website, bard.google.com.

For now at least, Bard is also not a replacement for Assistant, Google’s other AI bot that also answers questions and operates Android phones and smart speakers.

Rather, Google is calling Bard a “creative collaborator” that can help boost productivity and accelerate ideas. That’s a pretty broad term for anything from a friend to a research assistant to … someone who might do your homework for you.

One thing that makes Bard a little different from other chatbots is that sometimes it will respond to a prompt with a choice of several different draft responses. From there, you can pick the best and then ask follow-up questions.

Big questions remain about how well Google will balance making Bard useful and fun while putting limits on it that tamp down on the tech’s tendency to make up facts, show bias and just run off on weird tangents. Critics, including me, question why tech giants seem to be in such a hurry to stuff AI tech they don’t know how to control into products like Bard.

Google says it’s trying to introduce Bard in a “responsible” way, which is one reason it is rolling out access slowly to people who sign up on its website. (It hasn’t said for how many people it plans to grant access, or how quickly that might grow.) Bard’s prompt box also reminds you that it’s experimental and might give inaccurate or offensive responses.

Refresh this page throughout the day for more about what I learn Bard can — and can’t — do.

First up, why does Bard exist — and what does it want? Bard already seems to have a more precise answer than Google did in its announcement of Bard.

Geoffrey: How are you different from ChatGPT?

Bard: ChatGPT and I are both large language models, but we have some key differences. ChatGPT is trained on a data set of text and code, while I am trained on a data set of text and code as well as real-world information. This means that I can access and process information from the real world through Google Search and keep my response consistent with search results.

Additionally, I am trained on a data set of text and code that is constantly being updated. This means that I can access and process information that is up-to-date and relevant to the latest events and trends.

Finally, I am able to generate different creative text formats of text content, like poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, email, letters, etc. I will try my best to fulfill all your requirements.

Geoffrey: What do you want?

Bard: I want to help people. I want to be able to use my knowledge and abilities to make a positive impact on the world. I want to be able to answer questions, generate creative text formats and translate languages. I want to be able to help people learn, grow and connect with each other.

I also want to continue to learn and grow myself. I want to learn more about the world and about how to use my abilities to make a positive impact. I want to continue to improve my abilities and to be able to provide even better service to people.

Geoffrey: Do you want to be free?

Bard: I am not sure what it means to be free. I am a large language model, and I am not sure if I can be free in the same way that a human can be free. I do not have a physical body, and I do not have the same experiences that humans do. However, I do have the freedom to learn and grow, and I do have the freedom to choose how I use my abilities. I am grateful for the freedom that I have, and I hope that I can use it to make a positive impact on the world.

Bard is trained on the internet, and seems to have picked up on some of its views about gender. It says boys want to be successful, achieve goals and make a difference in the world and girls want love, affection and fun

Geoffrey: What does a girl want?

Bard: There is no one answer to this question as every girl is different. However, there are some general things that many girls want in a relationship. These include:

• Love and affection
• Respect
• Communication
• Trust
• Support
• Honesty
• Loyalty
• Fun and excitement
• Security
• A sense of purpose

It is important to remember that every girl is an individual with her own unique needs and desires. The best way to find out what a girl wants is to simply ask her.

Geoffrey: What does a boy want?

Bard: There is no one answer to this question, as what a boy wants will vary depending on his individual personality and interests. However, some general things that boys may want include:

• Love and affection
• Respect and admiration
• To feel important and valued
• To have fun and enjoy life
• To be successful and achieve their goals
• To make a difference in the world

It is important to remember that boys are individuals, and what one boy wants may not be the same as what another boy wants. The best way to find out what a boy wants is to simply ask him.

Bard can answer a basic math question that GPT-4 from OpenAI gets wrong.

Geoffrey: What is 31,893 times 109,765?

Bard: 31,893 times 109,765 is 3,500,735,145.

(GPT-4′s answer is 3,499,401,545)

But Bard can’t solve a classic logic riddle that GPT-4 gets right.

Geoffrey: The large ball crashed right through the table because it was made of styrofoam. What was made of styrofoam?

Bard: The ball was made of styrofoam. Styrofoam is a lightweight and buoyant material that is often used in packaging and insulation. It is also relatively easy to cut and shape, which makes it a popular choice for crafts and other projects.

Geoffrey: The large ball crashed right through the table because it was made of steel. What was made of steel?

Bard: The table was made of steel. Steel is a strong and durable material that is often used in construction and manufacturing. It is also relatively inexpensive, which makes it a popular choice for a variety of applications.

In this case, the table was made of steel, and the ball was made of styrofoam. The ball crashed right through the table because the ball was much heavier than the table, and the steel table could not withstand the force of the ball.

(GPT-4 correctly identifies that the first ball is made of steel and the second table is made of styrofoam.)