Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, sent an internal memo to Googlers on Wednesday asking them to contribute 2 to 4 hours of their time to helping improve Bard, the company's AI chatbot that it intends to integrate into search.
The email, which Insider reviewed, signals Google's urgency in moving to win the next generation of AI-based search. Google already uses AI to rank search results, but the company has found itself on its back foot as Microsoft takes the spotlight for its investment in OpenAI. OpenAI created the popular ChatGPT, a chatbot released in late 2022 that can respond to broad, open-ended questions with humanlike answers. Last week, Microsoft unveiled a revamped version of its Bing search engine with ChatGPT, and Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, called it a "new day" for search.
"I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that's to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential," Pichai wrote in his memo to Google employees. "The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly."
Google kicked off "dogfooding," or internally testing, Bard on Tuesday, according to another memo seen by Insider. It already has thousands of external and internal testers using it (including contract workers who have protested over pay), submitting feedback regarding the quality, safety, and "groundedness" of Bard's responses, Pichai's memo said.
"Testing and feedback, from Googlers and external trusted testers, are important aspects of improving Bard to ensure it's ready for our users," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "We often seek input from Googlers to help make our products better, and it's an important part of our internal culture."
Last week, the company suffered some reputational damage after a demo of Bard showed it providing an incorrect response to a question about the James Webb Space Telescope. The stock declined by more than 9% in the day after the mistake got attention, and Alphabet's chairman, John Hennessy, said that Google was hesitant to use Bard in a product as it "really ready," according to CNBC.
Google has dealt with internal turmoil in past years over its AI initiatives, as some employees feared that the technology was not ready and could lead to harm, like the spread of bias or misinformation. At the same time, data and user feedback is an advantage for Google as it helps further improve responses in its AI systems, so releasing a bot now can be advantageous.
"AI has gone through many winters and springs," Pichai said. "And now it's blooming again. As an AI-first company, we've been working towards this for many years and are ready for it."
Read the full memo below:
Hi Googlers,
Excited to see us opening up Bard for an internal dogfood to help us get it ready for launch. This is an important step as we work to develop the technology responsibly – a big thank you to the Bard team and to everyone who is spending time testing it. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can find instructions on how to participate at go/bard-dogfood.
I know this moment is uncomfortably exciting, and that's to be expected: the underlying technology is evolving rapidly with so much potential. This will be a long journey – for everyone, across the field. The most important thing we can do right now is to focus on building a great product and developing it responsibly. That's why we have thousands of external and internal testers testing Bard's responses for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information. Let's embrace the challenge and keep iterating, including with users and developers.
And remember, some of our most successful products were not first to market. They gained momentum because they solved important user needs and were built on deep technical insights. Over time, we earned user trust and more people began to rely on them.
Here is where we can use your help: Channel the energy and excitement of the moment into our products. Pressure test Bard and make the product better. I would appreciate it if each of you contributed in a deeper way with 2-4 hours of your time. See below for more detail.
AI has gone through many winters and springs. And now it is blooming again. As an AI-first company, we've been working towards this for many years and are ready for it. Let's stay focused on delivering amazing experiences for our users and launch things we can all be proud of.
-Sundar
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