A developer has just spotted a line of code seemingly from Google announcing the imminent launch of Google Bard, the company’s ChatGPT competitor — the launch of which might point to how far Apple is behind its competition right now.
Taking to X(formally known as Twitter), Bedros Pamboukian said that Bard Advanced will be free for 3 months and will come as part of a Google One subscription. Pre-empting those who might call him a leaker, Pamboukian clarified that “Again, not a leaker, but Google keeps putting stuff in plain sight and literally nobody realizes…”. Which is funny, given he published a leak.
This suggests that Google either isn’t too careful about this information or is teasing the imminent launch of Bard Advanced through its code. ChatGpt was reported to have over 180 million monthly users in December and Google Bard crossed 142 million users at the start of 2024. With such a huge initial user base looking elsewhere for their artificial intelligence hit, Apple’s AI injection into Siri has a lot to compete with.
Apple’s woes — iMore’s Take
hi, bard advanced will be free for 3 months and you’ll need Google One too, enjoysiesthe fact that it’s in prod implies it’s ready & being tested (currently an experiment)again, not a leaker, but Google keeps putting stuff in plain sight and literally nobody realizes… pic.twitter.com/YqfAK77f0FJanuary 3, 2024
Top analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed last August that Apple’s AI efforts were significantly behind Chat GPT, and not coming for some time — and given his reliable track record, we’d be inclined to take note. In an effort to make up for lost time and ground, Apple aims to spend 4.75 billion on AI servers this year.
Apple has been developing devices with impressive Neural Engines for almost a decade now, which means it could be in a good hardware space for AI. The Neural Engines leave room for good on-device Siri support. However, the competition is linked to the internet and cloud-based solutions to retrieve answers, which Apple appears to be significantly behind on.
No matter what state Google Bard Advanced launches in, Apple has to pay attention if it aims to compete.