As OpenAI’s “ChatGPT” ushered in a new era in the tech industry, Google, which had been the industry’s dominant artificial intelligence (AI) field, responded by reorganizing its research labs and offering a large number of sometimes overlapping AI services. started offering. These included the conversational AI “Bard”, the business support “Duet AI”, and the chatbot-style “Google Search”.
Now, Google is integrating many of its products, including generative AI, based on its latest AI model, Gemini, and has set its sights on OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus, a paid monthly service. Google announced on February 8 (US time) that it would change the name of its experimental chatbot “Bard,” which it launched in March of last year, to “Gemini.”
The name Gemini is the same as Gemini, an AI model that supports text, voice, and images that has been installed in Bard since December last year. Gemini is also becoming an important part of Google’s services. A dedicated app will be available for Android smartphones, and it will be integrated into the main Google app for Apple mobile devices.
When Google first announced its AI model Gemini, it was described as a new foundation for the company’s AI services. However, the company held off on releasing the highest-performance version, citing the need for further testing for safety. Its highest performance version, “Gemini Ultra,” can now be used in Google’s top-of-the-line chatbot model, “Gemini Advanced” (currently only available in English).
To use it, you need to subscribe to the new plan “AI Premium” of Google’s cloud service “Google One”. Google One’s $10/month “premium” plan typically includes features including 2 terabytes of additional storage. This, plus the right to use Gemini Advanced, is now available for $20 per month (2,900 yen in Japan).
Google’s new plan offers significantly more features than OpenAI’s $20/month ChatGPT Plus. ChatGPT Plus gives you access to the most powerful versions of OpenAI’s chatbots, as well as OpenAI’s new GPT Store, which provides custom chatbot functionality created by developers. For the same monthly fee, Google One users get powerful chatbot-powered searches, plus additional shared storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
Evolving into AI that shows “individual” reactions
Sissy Xiao, Google vice president and general manager of Google Assistant and Bard, said in a media briefing ahead of the Feb. 8 announcement that Google will target users of Gemini and other major chatbots. Google said it conducted a blind test and found that Google’s chatbot was the “most preferred chatbot.”
According to Xiao, Google has given 100 top AI experts access to advanced versions of Gemini and asked them to try out the chatbot with complex requests. “The experts are very enthusiastic and have provided really positive feedback.”