Chatbots: Here to Stay or on the Decline?

Once when writing a debate case, I found myself at a loss for time. It was late in the evening, and I couldn’t think of how to write a specific argument. Knowing that ChatGBT just came out, I decided to give it a go. What I got in return was a bag of mixed results. Some parts of the text impressed me with the research quality and the complexity of its writing; however, other parts were less than ideal. My first interaction with ChatGBT set the tone for how I view AI Chatbots — a great idea with half-baked implementation.  

While interest in AI has been around for a long time, the peak of that interest may already have passed. Throughout the spring of 2023, the introduction of Bing-AI, Bard, and ChatGBT-4, all lead to the peak of AI interest. According to Google Trends, searches for “AI” had the highest interest in May 2023, with a downturn the following month.

The Leaders 

Bard-AI, Bard, and ChatGBT-4 are the leading AI chatbots. Bing-AI is a product from Microsoft, which stems from its partnership with ChatGBT and OpenAI. It is embedded into the Bing search engine, and is on-par with ChatGBT in terms of its functionality. Bard is Google’s foray into the AI space. Rushed to be released because of the announcement of BingAI, Bard is still considered an experimental project and is limited to those older than 18 who have a Google account. ChatGBT-4 is the newest version of the most popular chatbot with over 1.5 million monthly visits. While all three chatbots are very similar, I prefer to use ChatGBT because of its better answers and ease of use.

SimilarWeb found that unique visitors and time spent on ChatGBT had fallen from April to May. It’s not just ChatGBT– Bard, Bing, and Character AI all saw decreases in visits for the first time.

Is this the beginning of the end for AI chatbots?

Probably not. This scenario is often associated with new technologies. While New Coke, Google Glass, and the Apple Newton are all examples of products that failed, there are other products that have simply lost their popularity, such as Campbell soup, Pokémon GO, and Hoverboards. The novelty of chatbots has waned, and as with any new technology, they have to prove their worth. Many products have seen this same story, and this will be the largest test for AI chatbots. 

If they can continue to be used and provide a service to people, then they will be here to stay. However, companies like Google would prefer for AI chatbots to fail, as they are an existential threat to their business model. 

People have begun to understand that while these AI chatbots have certain use cases, they are not developed enough to be truly transformative for the average person. Even Google, who has worked on Bard (powered byLaMDA) for over 2 years, was forced to rush Bard onto the AI scene because of the launch of BingAI. 

The Results of Rushing

The rush of Bard onto the market made many people realize that this technology was not yet ready enough for full consumer use. Bard and other AI chatbots often make mistakes, which decreases their usability. These chatbots are also wildly inconsistent with each other. I asked both “What are the most popular spots to visit in the Grand Canyon?” BingAI gave me a short paragraph while ChatGBT wrote a 7 bullet point list, each its own paragraph. These major discrepancies between systems ultimately lead to consumers being disoriented and pushed back from these emerging technologies. 

The fact of the matter is that while some see the technology as a toy and others a danger, the dystopian world in which hundreds of thousands of jobs would be replaced by AI chatbots has not materialized. While undoubtedly a powerful tool, AI chatbots are in their infancy. Their use cases for most people are more for a novelty rather than real work. While you could ask ChatGBT to write a piece of code, or ask BingAI to write you a poem, the reality is that most people view AI chatbots as a place to be creative and experiment, rather than to receive a tangible benefit. As in my debate case, ChatGBT didn’t really write exactly what I needed, with many facts and important arguments being flat out false. 

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