Google’s big AI experiment

Google is moving more boldly on AI. [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hey there, it’s Rachel in San Francisco. I attended Google’s I/O developer event this week in Mountain View and one thing CEO Sundar Pichai said kind of blew my mind. But first... Today’s must-reads: • Elon Musk says [he’s stepping down]( as Twitter’s CEO • Startups find that one of their last [funding sources is drying up]( • Lyft will [discontinue pooled rides](, launch new airport feature Generative AI is everywhere Google’s biggest event of the year, its I/O conference, happened outside this week at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. On Wednesday morning, I sat with a gaggle of other reporters, Alphabet Inc. employees, and developers, waiting for Chief Executive Officer [Sundar](bbg://people/profile/15004624)[Pichai](bbg://people/profile/15004624) to start the show. If you haven’t been to Shoreline, imagine a huge, tent-like concert venue, perfect for a sunny-day spectacle. Generative artificial intelligence — the kind of software that can produce text, images, music or even video based on user prompts — would, naturally, be top of mind in Pichai’s remarks. The company has come under pressure in recent months as the wild popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot has sparked concerns that Google may be losing its edge in AI, a field where it has long [been a leader](. When Pichai strode out onto the stage [to open the event]( that morning, it wasn’t surprising that he immediately addressed the recent past. “As you may have heard,” he said, “AI is having a very busy year.” Less than a minute into his remarks, after pointing out that Google has a history of using AI to improve its products, he said something fittingly dramatic for the setting. “With generative AI, we are taking the next step,” he said. “With a bold and responsible approach, we are reimagining all our core products, including search.” That last bit was, for me at least, a bit of a record-scratch-freeze-frame moment. Accuracy and dependability are key when it comes to offering a good online search experience, and one of the most problematic issues current generative AI systems face is their tendency to, well, make stuff up. Google has already introduced its [Bard chatbot]( – the company’s answer to ChatGPT and a growing number of other similarly powerful assistants. Rival Microsoft Corp. has already woven generative AI into its search offerings with Bing. Bard isn’t a replacement for Google’s search, but it exemplifies how the company is thinking about the future of human-computer interaction. And like much of the generative AI field, it’s still pretty rough around the edges, sometimes in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. For example, when I asked it recently to describe the iPhone’s history, it said, among many other things, that in 2018 Apple brought in $108.2 billion in revenue from the product. It was close, but not quite there: Apple actually raked in about [$166.7 billion]( that fiscal year in iPhone sales. Perhaps more seriously, there are still a host of gender and cultural biases that can pop up when people use these systems. Google is a pioneer in AI, having used it for years across its products (search, maps, Gmail and so on). And the company holds a key role in the development of generative AI. Its 2017 paper [“Attention Is All You Need”]( introduced the idea of the transformer architecture, technology that allowed Google and companies such as OpenAI to build large language models. (That’s the “T” in ChatGPT.) But Pichai’s statement marks a [striking change for the company](. It historically took a cautious line, and until recently, didn’t talk much about generative AI as a consumer product. Sure, it touted products like its [Imagen]( image generator, but that was a research project that hadn’t yet been made available to the general public. On Wednesday, [Google announced Bard’s broader public availability](, along with a [slew of other moves]( that will sprinkle generative AI into various products, including (and especially) search. It also said that Imagen will be one of several generative models available to clients via Google’s cloud service. At the same time, Google is making it clear that it still views this stuff as an experiment. Users can sign up for a waitlist for [Search Labs](, which includes a version of Google’s search that incorporates generative AI — letting users do things like ask more complicated questions than you might be able to with traditional search (comparing restaurants or vacation spots, for instance) or ask follow-up queries. As [this demo shows](, users will be reminded of its experimental status as they conduct searches. If this stuff is still an experiment, in some sense that makes users the subjects. (I’m not the only person [drawing this conclusion](.) From where I was sitting in the amphitheater, that felt exciting — I love the prospect of trying new technologies — but it’s also a little unsettling. –[Rachel Metz](mailto:rmetz17@bloomberg.net) The big story Your ad data is now powering government surveillance. A product called Echo, made by the Israel-based Rayzone Group, is using information intended for marketers to help authorities [track people through their mobile phones](. Get fully charged Meta is giving marketers AI tools to create ads and make them [more effective](. Elon Musk asks appeals court to end his [“Twitter sitter” deal](. BuzzFeed says its readers spend 40% more time with [AI quizzes]( than traditional ones. More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech newsletters in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Hyperdrive]( for expert insight into the future of cars Follow Us You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Tech Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](