Google's parent company Alphabet lost $100 billion in market value on Wednesday after its new artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, Bard, made an error in a promotional video.
Alphabet shares fell 9 per cent during trading and closed down 7.68 per cent.
Google was showing off its new technology at its Live from Paris virtual event when Bard was asked what a parent could tell their nine-year-old child about the discoveries made by the James Webb Space Telescope.
It responded that the telescope was the first to take pictures of a planet outside Earth's solar system. But that was achieved by the European Very Large Telescope.
Google launched Bard on Monday to compete with rival ChatGPT, an AI service created by OpenAI.
The service aims to create innovative ways to engage with information, from language and images to videos and audio.
Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google and Alphabet, made reference to the James Webb Telescope question in a blog post on Monday.
"Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models," he said.
"It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses.
"Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope to a nine-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills."
The incorrect answer remains in a gif on the blog post.
The California-based company said it would allow “trusted testers” access to the new service in the beginning. It plans to make it widely available in the coming weeks.
ChatGPT launched in November and became an instant hit, although it led to concerns among some teachers that the program could lead to an increase in plagiarism. It was banned in New York City schools.
OpenAI has since introduced a new tool that can detect whether a piece of writing has been created by AI or a human being.
But OpenAI said it was not totally successful in identifying AI text.
In an evaluation of English texts, the classifier correctly identified 26 per cent of AI-written text as “likely to be AI-written", but incorrectly labelled human-written text as AI-written 9 per cent of the time.
Meanwhile, Microsoft entered the AI-powered search field this week.
The Bing search engine and Edge web browser will deliver more complete answers to queries, a new chat-style search experience and the ability to generate content, Microsoft said on Wednesday.
Bing runs on a next-generation large language model built by OpenAI that Microsoft described as more powerful than ChatGPT.
Microsoft's upgrade of Bing, which is live in limited preview on desktop computers and will be available for mobile devices in the coming weeks, takes key learnings and advancements from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 — and is “even faster, more accurate and more capable”, the company said.
Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The biog
Family: Parents and four sisters
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing at American University of Sharjah
A self-confessed foodie, she enjoys trying out new cuisines, her current favourite is the poke superfood bowls
Likes reading: autobiographies and fiction
Favourite holiday destination: Italy
Posts information about challenges, events, runs in other emirates on the group's Instagram account @Anagowrunning
Has created a database of Emirati and GCC sportspeople on Instagram @abeermk, highlight: Athletes
Apart from training, also talks to women about nutrition, healthy lifestyle, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure
Usain Bolt's time for the 100m at major championships
2008 Beijing Olympics 9.69 seconds
2009 Berlin World Championships 9.58
2011 Daegu World Championships Disqualified
2012 London Olympics 9.63
2013 Moscow World Championships 9.77
2015 Beijing World Championships 9.79
2016 Rio Olympics 9.81
2017 London World Championships 9.95
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
