Google’s AI Competitor to ChatGPT faces internal opposition: Report

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is being met with resistance as more people express concerns about its impact on society. With AI chatbot ChatGPT from OpenAI and generative AI image makers like Midjourney and DALL-E 2, AI has become a major talking point. However, not everyone is on board with this emerging technology.

According to a report from The New York Times (NYT), two Google employees tried to stop the company from launching its own AI chatbot, which is intended to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT, as they believed the technology generated “inaccurate and dangerous statements.” Similarly, Microsoft employees and ethicists had raised similar concerns earlier, prior to launching their own AI chatbot.

Despite the concerns, both Microsoft and Google released their AI chatbots in February and March 2023 respectively, following OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT-4 in November 2022. However, since the release of ChatGPT, there have been major conversations around the ethics and usage of AI chatbots and image generators.

Midjourney, an application that uses AI to generate realistic images, discontinued its free trial to curb problematic deep fakes. At the same time, an Australian media executive called for monetary compensation from ChatGPT and AI for the news it consumes.

Furthermore, over 1,000 researchers and thought leaders, including Elon Musk, penned a letter voicing concerns about the future of society and truth and calling for the pace of AI development to be slowed down. Governments across the globe have also taken a similar approach, with Italian officials temporarily blocking ChatGPT in the country and US President Joe Biden urging tech firms to address risks posed by AI.