ChatGPT haunts Google CEO, slammed for ‘botched’ debut of Bard AI

Employees at Google have expressed dissatisfaction with the search engine giant's Wednesday "early launch" of the Bard artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, the new sensation that has swept the tech industry.

The staffers feel that the firm handled the announcement in a "rushed," "botched," and "un-Googley" manner, according to posts and memes shared on the company's internal forum Memegen.

One meme with a sad Google CEO Sundar Pichai image read: "Dear Sundar, the Bard launch and the layoffs were rushed, botched, and myopic." 

"Please return to taking a long-term outlook." Employees overwhelmingly voted up the post.

The staffers took to the site to vent their frustration with CEO Pichai, and he has been severely criticized.

"Sundar, and leadership, deserve a Perf NI," said another highly voted meme in reference to the lowest category in the organization's personnel performance review system,

"They are being comically short-sighted and un-Googley in their pursuit of 'sharpening focus,'" read the post further. 

Early launch and the criticism

Employee reactions to Bard AI's launch were conflicting because it came ahead of a Microsoft event that showed how Bing would work with OpenAI's ChatGPT technology.

While some thought the presentation was lackluster, others were not even aware of the occasion, said a Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC) news report which claims to have access of the posts shared internally. 

They were further aggravated when a Bard debut advertisement included an inaccurate description of a telescope.

This criticism follows Pichai's call for staff to be more focused and to live up to the "Googley" ideals of ambition, hard work, respect, and teamwork. 

But, staff members believe that the hurried Bard launch and the most recent layoffs are at odds with these ideals.

The company's response to Microsoft's event and worries over ChatGPT's potential threat to Google's main search business have caused Alphabet shares to drop more than nine percent this week.

Google at odds with AI

The company lost 100 billion earlier over Bard's blunderous debut. 

According to some workers, the hurried release of Bard simply feeds their anxieties. One meme said: "Rushing Bard to market in a panic validated the market's fear about us."

Concerns about Google's place in the field of AI have long existed.

Employees inquired about the company's competitive edge in AI during a company-wide meeting in December when ChatGPT was growing in popularity.

Executives reacted by warning that if the company adopts AI-chat technology too rapidly, which is far from ideal, the company's reputation may suffer, the CNBC report noted.