Google has postponed the launch of its next-generation AI model, Gemini, to January 2024, initially teased at its I/O 2023 event as a formidable competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4. The internet giant continues to lag behind the developer of ChatGPT in the generative AI arena.
Engadget reports that Google, in a surprising move, has canceled its scheduled Gemini launch events, pushing its release to January 2024. Gemini, first announced at Google’s I/O 2023, was described as a groundbreaking AI model with multimodal capabilities, integrating different types of data like images and text. This delay, attributed to issues with handling non-English queries, represents a strategic decision by CEO Sundar Pichai to refine the model’s performance.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai looking down (NurPhoto / Contributor/Getty)
OpenAI logo seen on screen with ChatGPT website displayed on mobile seen in this illustration in Brussels, Belgium, on December 12, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The postponement marks a shift in Google’s strategy as the company appears to be prioritizing the quality of the AI rather than attempting to rush the product to market. Gemini is designed to handle a wide range of applications, showcasing Google’s ambition to enhance its AI and AI-enhanced products, including Bard, Google Assistant, and its Search platform. Google discussed Gemini in May, stating: “Once fine-tuned and rigorously tested for safety, Gemini will be available at various sizes and capabilities.”
As OpenAI continues to dominate the AI industry, it appears that Google is taking its time before fully competing with the firm — although Google’s Bard AI has been positioned as a competitor to ChatGPT.
Google’s caution may be warranted. As Breitbart News previously reported, the company’s market value plummeted $100 billion when a rushed version of Bard AI produced misinformation in its very first public demonstration:
Reuters reports that this week, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, saw a $100 billion decline in market value as a result of Bard, the company’s new chatbot, providing inaccurate information in a promotional video. Because of this failure and the lack of information regarding Bard’s integration into Google’s primary search function, there are worries that Google is falling behind its competitor Microsoft. The stock fell as much as 9 percent during Wednesday trading.
The launch of Google’s new chatbot on Monday was anticipated to simplify complex subjects. But just before its livestreamed presentation on Wednesday, Reuters called attention to a mistake in the company’s promotional video — the supposedly all-knowing AI made a basic mistake about space exploration.
Read more at Engadget here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.