Employees at Google criticized CEO Sundar Pichai and labeled the Bard chatbot’s revelation as “botched.”
Google was alarmed by Microsoft’s substitute, ChatGPT. In response, Pichai asked Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, to come back and discuss the company’s AI strategy in a series of meetings.
It became evident after those discussions that Google wanted to release its AI products more quickly. To that aim, the business allegedly made the decision to expedite its AI evaluation process.
It’s important to remember, though, that Google AI Chief Jeff Dean warned staff members at the time that giving inaccurate information puts the organization at more “reputational risk.” It’s important to keep it in mind until a little later.
The rumors that Microsoft planned to include a new ChatGPT version, driven by GPT-4, into Bing seemed to set off a warning system at Google that eventually became a siren.
In an apparent attempt to outdo Microsoft when it announced its AI event, Google revealed it at the last minute. Then Microsoft revealed an even more impromptu occasion.
To announce Bard, Pichai released a blog post the day before Microsoft’s event. Although Google officially released their statements before Microsoft, the article mostly seemed to be a catch-up to ChatGPT rather than a novel service.
It was Google’s event next. The presentation wasn’t awful in and of itself, but it was essentially a repetition of earlier statements meant to reassure people that Google is still making strides in artificial intelligence.
The primary problem with Google’s event, though, is that it seemed hurried because it followed Microsoft’s. That came to a head somewhat when a presenter’s phone vanished, making a live demo impossible.
Pichai was nowhere to be seen at Google’s equivalent, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was on stage at the company’s own event, appearing at ease and cracking jokes.
Using the internal forum “Memegen,” Google employees criticized Pichai’s leadership. One of them wrote, “Dear Sundar, please return to taking a long-term outlook. The Bard launch and the layoffs were rushed, botched, and myopic.”
This kind of gaffe in a pre-recorded video, when it’s clear the chatbot will be closely inspected, underscores why Google employees are so worried about the company’s present approach.
Investors also expressed their opinions on the events. In the wake of Google’s event, the company’s valuation fell by $120 billion as its shares fell by over 10%. The company’s shares have dropped by an additional 4% as of this writing.
Another Google employee posted on Memegen, “Rushing Bard to market in a panic validated the market’s fear about us.”
It is said that several Google employees had no idea the event was happening at all. Most seem to wish that the incident had never happened and that Bard had never received the publicity it so richly deserves.
