Executive Claims Google Did Not Hasten Launch of Bard Chatbot to Compete with Microsoft

During the Justice Department’s antitrust trial against Google, Elizabeth Reid, a vice president of search, refuted claims that the company hurriedly launched its AI chatbot Bard to outpace Microsoft’s comparable offering. Reid admitted that Bard provided an incorrect response during its public debut in February but dismissed the argument put forth by government lawyer David Dahlquist that Bard was hastily released following Microsoft’s announcement of integrating generative AI into Bing search engine.

“I don’t think you can draw that conclusion,” Reid said. “There were also several errors in Microsoft’s announcement. The technology is very nascent. It makes mistakes. That’s why we’ve been hesitant to present it.”

In its landmark antitrust lawsuit, the Justice Department has sought to show how Google maintains its monopoly on search by cutting off competitors like Microsoft. Government lawyers have sought to show that Google’s dominance also meant it deliberately delayed technological development if it could threaten its position.

Having worked on Google Maps and local search, Reid became Google’s director of search in 2021. He testified about the company’s efforts to develop local search and its recent move to AI with the Search Generative Experience, a limited edition based on generative AI. Several Google executives have testified in court about the company’s efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning into its products.

Google announced the launch of Bard on Monday, February 6, with CEO Sundar Pichai calling it “an important next step in our AI journey.” The next day, Microsoft said it was integrating technology from Open AI’s ChatGPT into Bing.

Google’s public presentation of Bard confused investors. In one instance, Bard was asked about the new findings of the James Webb Space Telescope. The chatbot incorrectly reported that the telescope was used to take the first images of a planet outside Earth’s solar system.

The Webb telescope was the first to image a single planet outside Earth’s solar system, while NASA first imaged a so-called exoplanet in 2004. The error led to a sharp drop in Alphabet’s stock.

“It’s a very subtle difference in language,” Reid said in explaining the error in his testimony Wednesday. “Ensuring the correctness of the song requires quite a lot of work.”

“The challenges of fact-checking are difficult,” he added.