The introduction of Project Gemini by Google, an AI model programmed to behave in human-like ways, marks the company’s next major advancement in artificial intelligence and is expected to heighten discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of the technology.
Phased deployment of the program will commence with the immediate integration of less advanced Gemini versions, dubbed “Nano” and “Pro,” into Google’s AI-driven chatbot Bard and its Pixel 8 Pro smartphone.
Google claims that with Gemini’s assistance, Bard will improve his intuition and proficiency at planning assignments. Google claims that Gemini on the Pixel 8 Pro will be able to automatically respond to messages on messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, and swiftly summarize recordings made on the device.
The most significant developments from Gemini won’t be seen until early in the upcoming year, when the company’s Ultra model will be utilized to introduce “Bard Advanced,” a more advanced chatbot that will initially only be made available to a small test group.
Although Google executives reassured reporters during a briefing that the technology will have no trouble gradually spreading into other languages, the AI will initially only function in English globally.
According to a demo of Gemini given to a group of reporters, Google’s “Bard Advanced” may be able to recognize and comprehend presentations that include text, images, and video at the same time, potentially enabling AI multitasking never seen before.
Additionally, Gemini will soon be integrated into Google’s widely utilized search engine, though the exact date of that change has not yet been announced.
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said, “This is a significant milestone in the development of AI and the start of a new era for us at Google.” Google DeepMind is the company that created Gemini. Nearly ten years ago, Google beat other rivals, including Facebook parent Meta, to acquire London-based DeepMind. Since then, it has combined DeepMind with its “Brain” division to concentrate on the advancement of Gemini.
AI enthusiasts are encouraged by Google’s claims that the technology can solve problems more effectively than humans in arithmetic and physics, which could lead to scientific discoveries that enhance humankind’s quality of life.
However, there is a counterargument in the AI debate that claims that the technology will eventually surpass human intelligence, leading to the loss of millions of jobs and possibly even more deadly actions like spreading false information or igniting the detonation of nuclear weapons.
According to a blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, “We’re approaching this work boldly and responsibly.” This entails setting high goals for our research and pursuing technologies that will greatly benefit individuals and society, as well as putting safety measures in place and collaborating with authorities and specialists to handle hazards as AI develops.
With the launch of Gemini, the AI race between Microsoft and San Francisco-based OpenAI, which has been intensifying over the past year, is expected to heat up.
When OpenAI published the free ChatGPT tool late last year, it was already well into constructing its most advanced AI model, GPT-4, with the financial and computational support of Microsoft. Due to the AI-powered chatbot’s meteoric rise to stardom, generative AI’s commercial potential gained attention, and Google was compelled to remove Bard as a result.
OpenAI launched GPT-4 in March, just as Bard was making his appearance around the world. Since then, the company has been adding new features targeted at consumers and corporate clients, such as the ability for the chatbot to analyse photos, which was introduced in November. It has been vying for business with rival AI startups like Anthropic and even Microsoft, which has granted OpenAI the exclusive rights to use its technology in return for Microsoft investing billions of dollars in the company.
Microsoft has benefited greatly from the collaboration thus far, with its market value rising by more than 50% this year, mostly due to investors’ expectations that artificial intelligence will become a tech industry gold mine. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has also been riding high on this wave, with a rise in market value of almost $500 billion, or roughly 45%, so far this year. Even though Gemini has been the subject of much expectation in recent months, Alphabet’s shares decreased somewhat on Wednesday.
Concerns have been expressed about whether OpenAI has deviated from its original aim to preserve mankind as technology advances in light of Microsoft’s increasing engagement in the non-profit organization during the past year and OpenAI’s more aggressive attempts to commercialize its products.
These concerns were heightened last month when Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was unceremoniously ousted by the board over unreported trust difficulties. Following criticism that threatened to bankrupt the business and cause a large-scale departure of skilled AI engineers to Microsoft, OpenAI reinstated Altman as CEO and reorganized its board.
With the release of Gemini, OpenAI might find itself attempting to demonstrate that its technology is still superior to Google’s.
Eli Collins, vice president of products at Google DeepMind, stated about Gemini, “I am in awe of what it’s capable of.”
Large language models, which operate by continually guessing the word that will come next in a sentence and are prone to making mistakes known as hallucinations, are seen as having limitations by some computer scientists.
Google declined to provide Gemini’s parameter count, which is one indicator of a model’s complexity but not the only one, during a virtual press conference. In a white paper published on Wednesday, the most advanced version of Gemini was described as beating GPT-4 on multiple-choice tests, elementary school math, and other benchmarks. However, the research also noted the continued challenges in getting AI models to develop higher-order reasoning abilities.
With Gemini, we achieved enormous strides in the area of factuality. In that sense, Gemini is the best model we have. However, I would still conclude that the research problem remains unanswered. Collins said.
