Google said its new generative artificial intelligence tool Bard can now help users write code to develop software, as the company wrestles Microsoft-backed Bing and ChatGPT for a greater share of the generative AI market.
With its new capabilities, Bard will help users with programming and software development tasks, including code generation, debugging and code explanation, the company said on Friday.
Since Bard’s launch in February, coding has been one of the top requests Google has received from its users.
“We are launching these capabilities in more than 20 programming languages including C++, Go, Java, JavaScript, Python and Typescript,” said Paige Bailey, group product manager at Google research.
“And you can easily export Python code to Google Colab — no copy and paste required.”
Besides writing code, Bard can also explain code snippets to users.
“This is particularly helpful if you are learning about programming for the first time, or if you need some additional support to understand what a block of code might output,” Ms Bailey said.
Bard focuses on creating new ways to engage with information, from language and images to videos and audio. In March, Google opened limited public access to select consumers in the US and the UK.
However, Bard so far not gained the kind of traction seen by its rival, the hugely popular ChatGPT, which was launched last year.
The global generative AI market is expected to reach $188.62 billion by 2032, growing at an annual rate of more than 36 per cent, from $8.65 billion last year, data from the Brainy Insights market research company showed. The North American region dominated the market this past year.
Google admits that Bard is still in an early experimental phase, and may sometimes provide inaccurate or misleading information while presenting it confidently.
“When it comes to coding, Bard may give you working code that doesn’t produce the expected output, or provide you with code that is not optimal or incomplete,” Ms Bailey said.
“Always double-check Bard’s responses and carefully test and review code for errors, bugs and vulnerabilities before relying on it.”
In February, Google's parent company Alphabet lost $100 billion in market value after Bard made a factual error in a promotional video.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
