Move over ChatGPT, 3 New AI Tools

By Mo Edjlali

A couple of months ago, we began a series of articles on ChatGPT, discussing its potential uses in our work and addressing common concerns about AI. I've been a tech junkie all my life. I'd spend hours as a kid flipping through popular science magazines at the library and built my first computer at 15 (it was a 486 IBM clone if that rings a bell!). Eventually, I got a degree in computer engineering and spent two decades working as a technology architect and manager constantly on the cutting-edge, and enterprise-scale projects. This is an extraordinary time for technology and humanity, and I have been on cloud nine seeing the advances of AI that I would have never imagined happening in my lifetime. 

It seems like every week there's some new AI development being announced, like Google's Bard, Microsoft's built-in chatbot for Bing, and of course, OpenAI's ChatGPT-4. I mean, I even had to rewrite this piece because of how fast things are changing with updates and new features!

To get a feel for these tools, we're going to compare the responses of Bing's chatbot and Google's Bard to the same question we asked ChatGPT-3.5. We'll keep things simple and use the same prompt for all of them, but keep in mind that for the best results, it's crucial to understand the subtle differences in prompting each system and learn how to use follow-up prompts to fine-tune the output.

Once we see how they all respond, I’ll share some takeaways and thoughts. My goal is to help you explore these AI tools and figure out how they can best support your work. As always I welcome your feedback!

Google Bard

So first I asked Google Bard “briefly describe what google bard is”

“Google Bard is a large language model from Google AI, trained on a massive dataset of text and code. It can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.”

Then I asked: “Write a 1 paragraph description of the benefits of mindfulness practice and list 4 benefits.

Impressions on Bard:

So, Bard responded noticeably quicker than the other AIs that I have played with. I asked for a paragraph and it gave me bullets but it also listed the four benefits in a numbered list which was nice to see. In the top right corner, I noticed it had generated three more drafts answering the same question. And for easy copying, all I had to do was click the three vertical dots in the bottom right.

Now, the response was a bit repetitive, with the bullets echoed in the numbered list. It felt like Bard was trying to make the answer seem longer, which I've noticed in some of its other responses too. Overall, the answer was pretty good, but I was a tad irked by the mention of YouTube – it felt like a sneaky way to promote one of Google's other products. At the bottom, users can give a thumbs up or down, creating a feedback loop that helps the AI improve. There's also a "Google It" option that shortened my question to "Benefits of mindfulness" and offered a link to search that term on Google.
If you're keen to try Bard, head over to bard.google.com. At the time of writing, it's free to use, but access is limited to certain countries, so it might not be available depending on where you're located.

Microsoft Bing Chat

Bing’s Chat  turn - here we go - Bing Chat tell us “What is Bing Chat”

“Bing Chat is a chatbot project by Microsoft that is integrated with Bing and Edge, and can also be accessed through mobile apps and other platforms like Skype and Teams1. It is essentially Microsoft’s flavor of ChatGPT, which is an AI chatbot built on OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs)1. Bing Chat uses the more advanced GPT-4 model for its chatbot2. It allows users to have a more natural conversation with the chatbot to get answers to long and complex questions3. Bing Chat can help you write poems, stories, or even share ideas for a project4.”

Then again I asked: “Write a 1 paragraph description of the benefits of mindfulness practice and list 4 benefits."

Impressions On Bing Chat

From the beginning Bing had a noticeable difference than the other tools by giving me three conversation style options: "More Creative," "More Balanced," and "More Precise." I stuck with the default, "More Balanced," to see how it would perform. It took a bit longer to generate a response, first showing "Searching for:" and then "Generating answers for you…" on the screen. I noticed that the answer included reference links and a list of sources from various websites. Plus, it offered some spot-on follow-up questions right below the answer. When I hovered over the response, I could share, copy, or give a thumbs up or down, just like with Bard, except Bing also had a sharing option. 

As for the response itself, it wasn't as concise as I had hoped. I asked for four benefits but got five, and then it went on to list even more. The first website wasn't what I would consider the most credible source, but it seemed to be optimized for Bing's search engine. The answer wasn't necessarily incorrect, but it was a bit confusing, and it started describing the practice of mindfulness, which wasn't what I asked for. Overall, I felt this answer needed more refining

I decided to give it another shot and asked for a more precise answer. The result which you can see below was better, but I still would've liked more academic and credible sources and a more undeniably concise response.

DallE (ok not AS new.. but worth exploring)

So let's start with what is DallE and to find out we’ll ask our two new AI tools Bard and Bing chat: "Write 200-word summary what is DallE?"

Google Bard on DallE: 

DALL-E (a portmanteau of Salvador Dalí and WALL-E) is a generative AI system developed by OpenAI that can create images from text descriptions. It was announced in January 2021 and is based on a 12-billion parameter version of GPT-3, a large language model trained to generate text.

DALL-E can generate images in a variety of styles, including photorealistic, painterly, and emoji. It can also combine multiple concepts in a single image, such as a cat with the head of a dog or a banana wearing a hat.

DALL-E has been used to create a variety of images, including art, memes, and product designs. It has also been used to generate images that are relevant to specific search terms, such as "a photo of a dog wearing a hat" or "a painting of a cat with the head of a dog."

DALL-E is a powerful tool that can be used to create a variety of images. However, it is important to note that DALL-E is still under development and may generate images that are inaccurate or offensive.

Bing Chat on DallE (using precise option):

DALL-E is an AI system developed by OpenAI that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language¹. It was introduced by OpenAI in January 2021⁴ and uses a version of GPT-3 modified to generate images⁴. DALL-E can combine concepts, attributes, and styles to create original, realistic images and art from a text description¹.

One year after its introduction, OpenAI released DALL-E 2 which generates more realistic and accurate images with 4x greater resolution than its predecessor¹. DALL-E 2 is preferred over DALL-E 1 when evaluators compared each model for caption matching and photorealism¹.

OpenAI has developed safety mitigations for DALL-E 2 to prevent harmful generations and curb misuse. They have limited the ability for DALL-E 2 to generate violent, hate, or adult images and have automated and human monitoring systems to guard against misuse¹.

DALL-E 2 is now available in beta and OpenAI hopes that it will empower people to express themselves creatively while also helping them understand how advanced AI systems see and understand our world¹.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 4/3/2023(1) DALL·E 2 - OpenAI. https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2 Accessed 4/3/2023.
(2) DALL-E - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DALL-E Accessed 4/3/2023.
(3) DALL·E - OpenAI. http://labs.openai.com/ Accessed 4/3/2023.
(4) DALL-E Online Image Generator - NightCafe Creator. https://creator.nightcafe.studio/dall-e-ai-image-generator Accessed 4/3/2023.
(5) DALL·E: Creating images from text - OpenAI. https://openai.com/research/dall-e Accessed 4/3/2023.

The responses from Google Bard and Bing Chat are comparable in accuracy and informativeness, though Bing Chat provided source references to verify the information being generated, and Bard provided a bit more details about DallE capabilities.

DallE

Now, it's one thing for AI to generate text, and it's downright impressive when it comes up with songs, poems, and jokes – stuff we used to think only we humans could do. But when AI starts creating art? That's a whole new ball game! I was genuinely surprised by how an AI could produce images that evoke emotions like a skilled artist would. You might feel the same way when you see some of the pictures I generated below.

Let's have a bit of fun with Dall-E, and just to be clear, I'm a total newbie when it comes to this tool. While working on our "Whackfulness: The Unexamined, Sometimes Silly, Side of Mindfulness" series, I wanted to create a playful image to lighten up the conversation. So, here's what Dall-E came up with when I used the prompt: "3D render of a pug meditating while floating with a mountain in the background." 

DallE is named after Salvador Dali, so naturally, given the work we do, I thought it would be fun to try this prompt: "Create a painting representing mindfulness meditation in the style of Salvador Dali."

Final Thoughts

There's no doubt that these AI tools will make a massive impact on our work, our field, and the world in general. Like any technology, they come with risks and challenges, and AI will undoubtedly raise some serious ethical and social dilemmas. But it's here to stay and will only keep growing. We can either turn a blind eye and fear it or embrace it and make it our ally. I'm choosing the latter, and we've been actively using AI tools internally for a couple of months. 

I believe AI can play a crucial role in furthering our mission to promote mindfulness and compassion in the workplace. I'm thrilled to explore and share with you how ChatGPT and other AI tools can help us achieve our goals while being mindful of their limitations. Keep an eye out for more AI-related content in our training, events, and articles. 

Eager to learn how to use ChatGPT and other AI tools? Great news – I'm developing a course to teach you precisely that. Sign up here, and we'll make sure you're in the know when it comes to course launch details.

What are your experiences and insights on using Bard, Bing Chat, or DallE? How can you see these tools applied to our field?