In November 2022, the US-based artificial intelligence (AI) research lab, OpenAI, released its chatbot, ChatGPT, disrupting the global tech industry.
ChatGPT provides comprehensive, cohesive, and eloquent answers to a variety of topics ranging from astronomy to haute cuisine. It uses natural language processing (NLP) algorithms and machine learning (ML) models to analyze and interpret user input, provide relevant answers, and provide interactive and personalized interactions.
Such technologies can continuously improve their language comprehension, response production and general conversational skills by analyzing and learning from previous interactions. Chatbots of this type can be used on a variety of platforms and channels, including websites, messaging apps, social networking platforms, and voice assistants.
But there is a catch. It often gives very detailed answers that are full of factual errors surrounding non-existent entities.
Despite their limitations, the lure of convenience has attracted a large number of professionals from various industries in recent months. In this article, we take a look at five alternatives to ChatGPT that have been launched in recent months.
Bard
Developed by Google, Bard is an AI powered chatbot released in March 2023. He uses the power of LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). Accessible through a web-based platform, it has a user-friendly interface. The tool shows utility in tasks such as text summarization and translation.
Jack Krawcyzk, Product Director at Google, recently shared on Twitter how Bard can even generate image-based answers in response to questions.
But be careful that Bard, like ChatGPT, may not ask for factual information or technical expertise in niche domains.
Vox correspondent Shirin Ghaffary meant that Bard is “pretty boring”. It is noticeably drier and uncontroversial. It’s probably designed that way, Ghaffary added
Chatsonic
Developed by Writesonic, ChatSonic is another AI powered chatbot. However, it is not just any chatbot, the company claims. According to the developersis the AI tool the ‘creme de la creme of the AI chatbot universe’.
ChatSonic is specifically designed to address the shortcomings of ChatGPT and is based on the same GPT-4 language concept. It can be used to quickly create any kind of material, from social media ad copy to lengthy blog posts.
Chatsonic generates content with the most current data and industry trends, something not even ChatGPT can achieve.
Interestingly, ChatSonic is up to date unlike ChatGPT. It can also understand voice prompts, create AI-generated art, and has a Chrome extension.
Claude
Claude, developed by US-based Alphabet-backed tech startup Anthropic, is an AI-powered assistant capable of a wide variety of conversational and word processing activities. The tool can help with a variety of use cases, including summaries, search, creative and collaborative writing, coding, and more. It can be accessed through their developer console chat interface and API.
According to Anthropic, Claude is a new, larger model with architectural choices similar to those in the published study. You can also change the chatbot’s tone, attitude, and behavior to make it sound more verbose.
Anthropic has been quietly testing Claude with launch partners including Robin AI, AssemblyAI, Notion, Quora, and DuckDuckGo.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by ex-OpenAI employees.
Perplexity AI
Launched August 2022, Perplexity AI is a conversational search engine that uses OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 API. The tool provides detailed answers to various questions to satisfy the user’s curiosity.
When a user enters a question, Perplexity AI’s model uses its AI language model and relevant information from the internet to provide a corresponding answer.
Perplexity AI’s transparency in producing the sources of its answers is an important feature. After each response, the tool shows all sources from which the information was retrieved.
YouChat
Launched by You.com, YouChat is an AI search assistant. You.com was founded in late 2021 by former Salesforce employees.
It allows users to participate in human-like discussions right in their search results. Users can ask complex questions, use logical reasoning to solve problems, learn new languages, and produce content in any language. It provides real-time data and reference sources to improve accuracy and relevance.
The tool summarizes a large number of documents and websites to provide you with a concise and detailed answer to your question. It provides faster answers and allows you to ask follow-up questions that maintain the context of your initial question, just as you would with an expert.
YouChat helps create new ways to find information and suggest changes to search engines. It paints a future where artificial intelligence sifts through data for you, quickly summarizes information, brings up the context of your searches when you ask follow-up questions, and delivers everything in a human-sounding, natural way.
What AI experts think of this development
AI researcher at Google, Geoffrey Hinton, recently left the organization, citing concerns about the risks of AI. He claimed that the technology could soon surpass the information capacity of the human brain. He called some of the threats from these chatbots “pretty scary.”
On the other hand, Robotics researcher and AI expert Rodney Brooks argues that such AI tools are much dumber than we realize, not to mention they can compete with humans on a given task on an intellectual level. Brooks made the comments in a interview with IEEE Spectrum.
In February 2022, Guardian technology journalist Chris Stokel-Walker wrote in a column that Google and Microsoft are engaged in an AI arms race. He also stressed that both tools made embarrassing rudimentary mistakes.
“I think ChatGPT is good for complex questions that don’t have direct answers, and summaries would be very helpful,” said William Wang, director of the Center for Responsible Machine Learning at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
