#34: Google Announces Bard, Microsoft Bing Is Now Powered by OpenAI, and Cohere In Talks to Raise Funding at a $6B Valuation

This week on The Marketing AI Show, Paul takes the show on the
road—to San Francisco for Jasper’s GenAI Conference—while Mike is
here in Cleveland. The big news is Bard, Bing, and a $6 Billion
valuation. Suddenly, it’s ChatGPT against the world. Google
responds to ChatGPT with its conversational AI tool, Bard. Google
just announced an experimental conversational AI tool named Bard.
Bard uses Google’s LaMDA language model to provide natural language
answers to search queries. Think of it like ChatGPT, but backed by
all the knowledge and information that Google’s search engine has
cataloged over the last couple of decades.  The announcement
of Bard—a response to OpenAI and ChatGPT—prompted some critics to
say the rollout was rushed, while others said they moved too slowly
after ChatGPT took center stage in December and January.  If
you missed it, the demo didn’t quite go as planned. OpenAI gives
Bing a new lease on life. Microsoft’s Bing is getting more
attention now than its previous 14 years combined. The latest
version of the search engine is powered by OpenAI, complete with
ChatGPT-like conversational capabilities. Bing can now respond to
searches and queries in natural language, like ChatGPT, and use
up-to-date information, like Google’s Bard release.  Kevin
Roose, technology writer at the New York Times, took the new
capabilities for a test drive and was impressed.  Will Bing
and OpenAI make Edge, Microsoft’s browser, interesting for
customers? Cohere answers the call for ChatGPT for the enterprise.
Major AI startup, Cohere, is in talks to raise money at a $6
billion valuation and bring ChatGPT-like capabilities to
businesses. Established in 2019 by former researchers at
Alphabet/Google, Cohere is a big player in the world of AI. The
foundational language AI technology allows businesses to
incorporate large language models into their work. The group is now
in talks to raise hundreds of millions at a $6 billion valuation,
reports Reuters, as the AI arms race heats up. Cohere is no
stranger to the VC world, having already raised $170 million from
venture capital funds and AI leaders like Geoff Hinton and Fei-Fei
Li. The appeal is the company’s focus on building for the
enterprise, with an emphasis on real-world applications for their
technology. Listen to this week’s episode on your favorite podcast
player, and be sure to explore the links below for more thoughts
and perspectives on these important topics.