February 10, 2023
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, saw its stock plummet after a Google AI chatbot named Bard made an error in a company advertisement. The incident raised questions about AI technology’s accuracy and ability to handle complex tasks.
During a live demonstration, the chatbot, which was designed to help businesses automate their customer service, failed to provide accurate information in response to a question. Many saw the blunder as a setback for Google, which has been heavily investing in AI and machine learning technology.
Alphabet’s stock price dropped by $100 billion after Bard made a factual error in an ad demo. A GIF in the error asks Bard, “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year-old about?” Bard responds with a few bullet points, including the claim that the telescope captured the first images of “exoplanets,” or planets outside the solar system of Earth.
However, the James Webb Space Telescope did not discover any exoplanets. This is something that social media users quickly pointed out. The ad eventually caused Alphabet shares to fall as much as 9% during trading hours before balancing out by the end of the day.
During regular trading, Alphabet shares fell as much as 9%, with volumes nearly three times the 50-day moving average. After a few hours, they had trimmed their losses and were roughly flat. Despite losing 40% of its value last year, the stock has gained 15% since the beginning of this year, excluding the losses previously recorded on Wednesday.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
