• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

'The golden years are not golden': Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power because they're terrified of outliving their money

2

Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates

3

Trump stunned as stocks fall on great jobs report. Barclays explains why ‘we are entering the warning zone'

1

'The golden years are not golden': Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power because they're terrified of outliving their money

2

Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates

3

Trump stunned as stocks fall on great jobs report. Barclays explains why ‘we are entering the warning zone'
TechAI

A robot’s $100 billion error: Alphabet shares tank after its ChatGPT rival makes a mistake in its very first ad

By
Tristan Bove
Tristan Bove
Contributing Reporter
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Tristan Bove
Tristan Bove
Contributing Reporter
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 8, 2023, 3:42 PM ET
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar PichaiMateusz Wlodarczyk—NurPhoto/Getty Images

The artificial intelligence wars are heating up, with tech companies large and small racing to outdo one another and get their A.I.-powered product to market. But the mistakes by the nascent technology are starting to pile up, and Google’s up-and-coming A.I.-powered chatbot has already cost the company $100 billion in market value.

OpenAI has a head start in the fight with its ChatGPT chatbot launched in November that uses A.I. to generate humanlike text. ChatGPT’s wide range of uses, status as the fastest-growing consumer app in history, and potential to disrupt internet searches has pushed rivals to throw out the slow and cautious strategy that has dominated A.I. research for years.

Microsoft, Google, and Chinese search giant Baidu are all moving fast on their A.I. products. Google is arguably the furthest along among the established companies, premiering its own A.I.-powered chatbot for testers on Monday. Google’s chatbot, Bard, is powered by LaMDA, the company’s own A.I.-fueled language learning model that is similar to the technology behind ChatGPT. 

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, wrote that technologies like LaMDA will eventually be integrated with Google’s search engine.

Bard will be released to the general public in a few weeks, Pichai wrote Monday, and it may be a good idea for Google to spend more time perfecting it before that happens. Pichai’s blog post featured a promotional video to exhibit Bard’s capabilities. In it, users asked Bard for help with day-to-day activities, including recipe ideas and how to plan a baby shower, as well as more technical questions like how to explain to a 9-year-old what the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered. 

But Bard underwhelmed audiences with inaccurate responses, including to the James Webb query. In that case, it responded that the telescope took the “very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system.” 

But the very first image of an exoplanet was captured by the Very Large Telescope, a ground-based array in Chile, in 2004 and confirmed as an exoplanet in 2005, according to NASA—long before James Webb’s 2021 launch. James Webb, however, is being used to identify and catalog exoplanets.

Reuters was first to report on Bard’s mistake, and Google’s shares took a hit as a result. Google shares fell nearly 8% on Wednesday afternoon in midday trading, to around $99 a share, down from $108 at market close Tuesday. Its market cap Wednesday was $1.27 trillion, down from $1.35 trillion last week. The error was discovered just before Google hosted an event in Paris to display more of Bard’s capabilities.

Bard’s error underscores “the importance of a rigorous testing process, something that we’re kicking off this week with our Trusted Tester program,” a Google spokesperson told Fortune, adding that the company is incorporating feedback to ensure Bard’s responses meet “a high bar for quality, safety, and groundedness in real-world information” before its wider public release.

To be sure, Bard is far from the only chatbot to be inaccurate. ChatGPT has succumbed to racial and gender biases in certain scenarios while also providing incorrect or confused information when asked about niche topics.

Update, Feb. 8, 2023: This article was updated with a comment from Google.

Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter examining what leaders need to succeed. Sign up here.
About the Author
By Tristan BoveContributing Reporter
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

solomon
C-SuiteGoldman Sachs Group
Exclusive: Goldman Sachs intern acceptance rate falls below 1% for third straight year
By Nick LichtenbergJune 8, 2026
2 hours ago
Bending Spoons, the Italian app acquirer behind AOL, Evernote, Vimeo, and WeTransfer, files for a U.S. IPO
Startups & VentureIPOs
Bending Spoons, the Italian app acquirer behind AOL, Evernote, Vimeo, and WeTransfer, files for a U.S. IPO
By Catherina GioinoJune 8, 2026
3 hours ago
Sarah Franklin, Chief Executive Officer of Lattice, and Francine Katsoudas, EVP and Chief People, Policy and Purpose Officer at Cisco, speak at Fortune's COO Summit with Kristin Stoller, Editorial Director at Fortune.
NewslettersFortune Workplace Innovation
AI disruption arrived 6 years early—now executives are drawing the line
By Kristin StollerJune 8, 2026
3 hours ago
from left to right: Omer Gull, Yuval Itzchakov, and Yossi Torati
CybersecurityTerm Sheet
Why Lightspeed and Wiz’s Assaf Rappaport bet $37 million on an AI-powered cyberattacker
By Lily Mae LazarusJune 8, 2026
3 hours ago
In this AI-driven world, Tod Boehly has spotted the best test for leadership. Someone who is willing to say “I don’t know”
EuropeLetter from London
In this AI-driven world, Tod Boehly has spotted the best test for leadership. Someone who is willing to say “I don’t know”
By Kamal AhmedJune 8, 2026
4 hours ago
David Sacks, then the White House Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, at the White House on September 04, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
NewslettersFortune Tech
David Sacks has concerns about government equity in AI companies
By Andrew NuscaJune 8, 2026
4 hours ago

Most Popular

'The golden years are not golden': Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power because they're terrified of outliving their money
Economy
'The golden years are not golden': Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power because they're terrified of outliving their money
By Nick LichtenbergJune 7, 2026
1 day ago
Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
Success
Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
By Preston ForeJune 7, 2026
1 day ago
Trump stunned as stocks fall on great jobs report. Barclays explains why ‘we are entering the warning zone'
Big Tech
Trump stunned as stocks fall on great jobs report. Barclays explains why ‘we are entering the warning zone'
By Eva RoytburgJune 7, 2026
22 hours ago
I've sold property on California's Central Coast for decades. The buyers chasing ranch and winery estates are after more than a lifestyle
Commentary
I've sold property on California's Central Coast for decades. The buyers chasing ranch and winery estates are after more than a lifestyle
By Lindsey HarnJune 6, 2026
2 days ago
AI CEOs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft set aside their rivalry to warn Congress AI is making it too easy to design and create bioweapons
AI
AI CEOs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft set aside their rivalry to warn Congress AI is making it too easy to design and create bioweapons
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJune 5, 2026
3 days ago
The Strait of Hormuz is more open than previously thought as the U.S. shoots down Iranian drones threatening ships and provides 'naval overwatch'
Energy
The Strait of Hormuz is more open than previously thought as the U.S. shoots down Iranian drones threatening ships and provides 'naval overwatch'
By Jason MaJune 6, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.