Google Bard is its ChatGPT rival

Google CEO Sundar Pichai in his blog post said, "Use Bard to simplify complex topics, like explaining new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old." (Screenshot: Google)

Google gave a sneak peek at its answer for OpenAI's ChatGPT. This automated text generation system took the world by storm in the two months since its public beta release. Google calls its long-rumoured chatbot AI Bard, and we expect to hear more about it during the "Google Presents" event on Wednesday. Google CEO Sundar Pichai considers Bard an "experimental conversational AI service. It is built on top of Google's existing Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) platform, which has been in development for the last two years. 

"Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models," Pichai declared in a blog post. "It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses." Now, it's unclear if it'll result in bigoted or racist responses, as we've seen on other chatbots. 

Click to read more ...

Toronto City has an official COVID-19 information chatbot

Embed from Getty Images 

The city of Toronto recently introduced a COVID-19 information chatbot to help answer common questions about the virus and its effects on the residents and businesses in the area. It's also designed to answer queries on city services affected by the pandemic. It draws most of its answers from content already available on the city's website. And since the chatbot is new, it's still learning. If you get an answer that doesn't seem right to you, you can ask it again using different words. The chatbot is only available in English. The city government reminds users that the chatbots are for informational purposes and shouldn't be taken as medical advice. 

City staff continues to train the chatbot and update the information it can access. The chatbot also improves with each interaction. But if you can't find the information you need, you can also call 311 to get answers to your queries. The 311 service supports over 180 languages.

Source: City of Toronto

WestJet's Juliet AI chatbot is now on Google Assistant

WestJet recently launched an AI chatbot to help answer your flight- or travel-related queries through Google Assistant. The Canadian airline calls this new digital assistant Juliet, and you can ask it everything related to managing itineraries, ID requirements, travel documentation, as well as questions regarding travelling with pets, among others. Juliet also comes with a baggage-size calculator to help you determine if you can carry on or if you need to check-in your luggage. To get your questions answered, say, "Hey Google, ask WestJet."

The airline has been developing the chatbot for the last 16 months, which it claims is the first of its kind from a Canadian airline. WestJet decided to partner with Google based on user data and research. It will work for both iOS and Android, but for Apple users, make sure you have the Google app installed. Juliet is also available through Facebook Messenger.

Mastercard Canada testing latest technology to simplify consumer purchases through Chatbot conversations

By Sonya Davidson

You may have heard about Mastercard's Identity Check payment system that is being used to prove consumer identity online beyond passwords and fingerprints. It uses smart devices and biometrics through facial recognition to enable payments in authenticating purchases. Recently at DX3 in Toronto, the company showed trade show attendees a hands-on look at the latest technology for retailers. We had a tour with Jason Davies, VP of Digital Payments at Mastercard, who walked us through the new technology in efforts to simplify and engage consumers. 

Along side seeing how Mastercard's Identity Check worked, we were also introduced to Chatbots experience that is now being tested with banks and retaiilers to help personalize customer service and purchases. The Artificial Intelligence bots will allow consumers to message, manage finances and make transactions through a messaging platform.

Click to read more ...