Tech Tok: Google loses $100B after Bard’s incorrect answer

Reports suggest Google employees are mocking their own company for ‘rushing’ announcement of Bard

Hyderabad: Google’s artificial intelligence technology Bard seems to have landed in a soup, just days after its launch. The tech which was touted to be ChatGPT’s biggest rival, turns out, has done more harm to Google than any of its other adversaries.

A promotional video that was designed to promote Bard showed it giving an incorrect answer, because of which shares in parent company Alphabet sank more than 7 percent. The company overall lost around $100 billion off the firm’s market value.

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Bard was asked in a Twitter promotion about what it would say to a nine-year-old about the discoveries made by James Webb Space Telescope. To which, it responded that the telescope was the first to capture images of a planet outside the Earth’s solar system.

However, astronomers on the micro-blogging site caught the mistake and called out the AI tech. NASA later confirmed that the pictures were first taken by the European Very Large Telescope in 2004.

Though even ChatGPT made errors initially, Bard’s inaccuracy proved to be quite disastrous for its market value. Multiple reports also suggest that Google employees are mocking their own company and CEO Sundar Pichai for ‘rushing’ the announcement of Bard, adding that the tech was not yet ready.

On the other hand, multiple other search engines and tech giants are expediting their AI projects to ride on AI-powered chatbots’ popularity.

Like Twitter, Insta may launch blue tick subscription

Following the footsteps of Twitter, photo-sharing social networking app Instagram may soon launch a subscription that will include the blue tick.

The development was first revealed by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who accurately discovered several features in the past. “Instagram is working on a subscription plan which includes the blue badge,” he tweeted.

The blue tick mark signifies a verified user, which can be highly useful for creators with thousands and millions of followers. In addition, it also helps them collaborate with brands and monetise their content.

Amazon’s self-driving car

The startup Zoox Inc. owned by Amazon carried passengers in its fully autonomous vehicle called the Robotaxi on public roads for the first time. The electric car, which doesn’t have a steering wheel, travelled a mile carrying staff between Zoox’s two main buildings in Foster City, California, the company said in a statement.

Banking on the initial positive test drive, the firm now plans to operate a shuttle service for employees on the same trip. Zoox is also working on acquiring additional clearances to expand its service to the public.

The company added that the robotaxi trip marks the first time that a vehicle designed without human controls has carried passengers on a public road.

iPhone update hinders access to Google Photos

Apple users who updated to the iOS 16.3.1 version have been experiencing trouble accessing Google Photos. The app has been crashing on the recently launched version of Apple’s mobile operating system.

While some users reported that bug soon after it was updated, others say it stopped working after the login process. What’s worse is that there is no error message about the issue and no available solution in near future. For the ones who use Google Photos on iOS, the best thing you can do is avoid updating your phone.