What you need to know
- Google's competitor to ChatGPT, Gemini, has been reportedly delayed until next month.
- Gemini was originally slated to be unveiled before the end of 2023, with an event mean to "showcase the technology."
- One reason for the delay has to do with how "the AI didn't reliably handle some non-English queries."
According to a report from The Information, Google has "quietly delayed" its unveiling of Gemini, the company's ChatGPT competitor. The report goes on to say that the reason for the delay isn't catastrophic, but, is because "the company found the AI didn’t reliably handle some non-English queries."
This comes following an earlier report which also claimed that Gemini would be delayed until "early 2024." The initial delay was said to be related to how "Google is still working out the primary version," while also aiming to bring "more features for the average consumer."
Something worth pointing out about the launch of Gemini is the timing of it all. As noted by The Information, Google usually doesn't release new products or services between November and January of the next year. However, "Google intended to make an exception for Gemini because it’s arguably the company’s most important initiative in a decade."
Regardless of what the actual reason for the delay is, Google is losing precious ground to the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic (makers of Claude 2), both of which are already available to the public. Meanwhile, Google's only public-facing AI chatbot is Bard, which doesn't offer the same experience as the others.
Even with the recent turmoil surrounding OpenAI, both it and Microsoft have pushed forward, bringing Microsoft Copilot to Windows 10 and Windows 11 users. Doing so puts ChatGPT and Copilot in front of millions of users while we await the arrival of Google's competitor.
Gemini was unveiled at I/O 2023 as part of Google's response to the explosion in popularity seen by ChatGPT. And, while Bard is available for millions of users, it's not as fleshed out or reliable compared to ChatGPT. However, even as the development of Gemini has been the focal point, Google also introduced new features for Bard, such as Extensions.
Where Gemini is expected to stand out is in providing true competition to OpenAI and the most recent GPT-4 Large Language Model (LLM). Like ChatGPT, Gemini is said to be able to "work with images and text alike." So you'll be able to do things such as enter a text prompt for "creating a new Android logo," and Gemini should be able to respond with an image.
Notably, Google also announced "Assistant with Bard" alongside the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, but the company has yet to provide a firm launch date. Perhaps that will change whenever Google finally feels confident enough to introduce Gemini and make it available to the masses.
