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ChatGPT vs Bard: Reviewing the Top AI Writing Tools in 2023

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Introducing ChatGPT and Bard: The Leading AI Writing Assistants

Artificial intelligence (AI) has advanced rapidly in recent years, with models like ChatGPT and Bard pushing the boundaries of what automated writing assistants can do. These tools utilize large language models trained on massive datasets to generate human-like text on demand. In this post, we'll provide an overview of ChatGPT and Bard, compare essays and code generated by each, evaluate their relative strengths and weaknesses, and offer conclusions on which tool may be best for different writing needs.

ChatGPT was created by AI research company Anthropic and released in November 2022. Bard is Google's response to ChatGPT, currently in limited preview as of February 2023. Both tools aim to understand natural language prompts and provide relevant, coherent responses to assist users with writing and content creation.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a conversational AI system developed by Anthropic. It uses a cutting-edge language model called Claude which has been trained on a massive dataset of online text and conversations. The key benefit of ChatGPT is its ability to understand natural language prompts and provide detailed, human-like responses on a wide range of topics. Some examples of what you can use ChatGPT for include:

  • Answering questions and providing explanations
  • Summarizing lengthy text passages
  • Generating new text on a topic, from essays to stories and more
  • Translating text between languages
  • Writing code based on descriptions of what the program should do
  • Solving math problems and walking through the steps In a nutshell, ChatGPT aims to be a versatile writing assistant for any task that involves generating language. Its knowledge comes entirely from what it was trained on, rather than being connected to the internet, so there are some limitations - but overall it is an exceptionally capable AI writing tool.

What is Bard by Google?

Bard is Google's conversational AI, positioned as a competitor to ChatGPT. It was first announced in February 2023 and uses Google's very large language model called PaLM. Bard is designed to provide helpful, factually accurate information in response to natural language prompts. Google states that Bard can:

  • Answer general questions
  • Explain topics simply
  • Perform common online tasks like booking reservations or finding opening hours
  • Generate content such as blog post drafts, email responses, and more So in theory, Bard offers similar generative capabilities to ChatGPT focused on assisting users with writing and content creation. However, it is designed with a stronger emphasis on accuracy and being up-to-date compared to ChatGPT. Bard is currently in limited preview so access is restricted. Over time, it is expected to power features across Google products like Search, Maps and more. But the core functionality aims to be similar to ChatGPT's open-ended conversational abilities.

Comparing AI-Generated Essays on the Westernization of Japan

One way we can compare ChatGPT and Bard is by evaluating essays they generate in response to the same prompt. Here, we asked both tools to write about the westernization of Japan - a complex topic covering Japan's political, social and cultural transformation during the late 19th century.

ChatGPT produced a nuanced 726-word essay covering multiple facets of this shift. It discusses economic modernization, adoption of Western institutions and technology, cultural impacts ranging from clothing to the role of women, and debates between traditionalists and reformers. The essay evaluates both positive and negative consequences, for example how industrialization raised standards of living but also wage disparities.

By contrast, Bard's 216-word response provides a shorter and less balanced analysis. It captures some economic impacts and resistance from traditionalists but lacks the cultural and gender analysis or discussion of historical debates that ChatGPT includes. It reads more like an encyclopedia entry while ChatGPT's response better showcases how transformational and complex this period was.

Testing ChatGPT and Bard for Coding Tic Tac Toe

In addition to writing prose, ChatGPT and Bard can also generate computer code in various programming languages. I gave both AI assistants the following prompt:

"Code an application that draws a tic tac toe grid and places pieces randomly"

Interestingly, while Bard says such tasks are out of scope, ChatGPT provided 146 lines of runnable Python code utilizing the Pygame library to render a graphical interface. The code includes functions to initialize the game grid, randomly place X and O tokens, check for winning combinations, and more. ChatGPT even helpfully annotates parts of the code to explain the logic.

Bard did also generate Python code, but it would not actually draw a graphical grid or game board. The code uses basic print statements rather than a graphics library like Pygame. So Bard produced syntax-valid Python but it did not fully match what the initial prompt requested regarding visually rendering tic tac toe.

For this coding test, ChatGPT clearly provided the more useful and applicable output. Bard seems better suited currently for explaining coding concepts rather than generating full runnable programs.

The Verdict: Which AI Assistant is Better for Writing?

ChatGPT's Strengths

Based on these examples, ChatGPT demonstrates stronger overall performance as an AI writing assistant:

  • More detailed, nuanced, and accurate handling of complex essay subjects
  • Can generate full programs, not just explanations, when asked coding questions
  • Generally produces longer, richer texts even in response to simple prompts Key advantages like Anthropic's Constitutional AI approach for alignment, and advanced Claude architecture for reasoning about context and concepts also give ChatGPT an edge.

Bard's Strengths

That said, Bard has some benefits that could make it the preferable choice in certain cases:

  • Much faster response times compared to ChatGPT, providing text almost instantly rather than a delay
  • Backed by Google's industry-leading infrastructure, scale and AI resources
  • Tied directly into Google products used by billions daily like Search and Maps
  • Focus on accuracy, truthfulness and avoiding false information So for quickly getting a short factual answer or trusted data relevant to your daily Google usage, Bard may be very convenient. Over time its capabilities seem likely to expand significantly as well.

Which Tool is Best Overall?

For now based on its strong performance handling complex prompts, ChatGPT appears to be the most advanced conversational AI writing assistant available. It generates not just coherent text but highly relevant, nuanced responses on challenging subjects. If you need help brainstorming ideas, drafting written documents, or even writing computer programs, ChatGPT delivers impressively human-like assistance. However, Bard offers much faster run times and Google's industry leadership behind it. Over the next months and years, expect rapid improvements to Bard that could make it highly competitive or even superior for certain tasks compared to ChatGPT. Both AI writing tools are groundbreaking and have strengths makings them likely to continue advancing productivity across many industries.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

ChatGPT and Bard represent a new generation of AI writing assistants made possible by advances in natural language processing. Both can understand prompts in plain English and generate helpful, detailed responses covering explanations, essays, code, and more to boost productivity.

Our comparisons find that ChatGPT currently provides more advanced handling of complex prompts with longer, nuanced, and accurate text generation. Bard offers much faster run times and backing by Google's industry leadership. Over time, expect rapid improvements to Bard even as ChatGPT continues progressing as well.

Key takeaways:

  • ChatGPT excels at detailed, coherent text generation for difficult prompts

  • Bard provides faster answers focused on accuracy and being up-to-date

  • These AI writing tools aim to save effort on common tasks from content writing to coding

  • Over the next few years, the capabilities of tools like ChatGPT and Bard are likely to expand enormously

The bottom line is that AI is starting to competently automate tasks involving generating language. Both ChatGPT and Bard make progress toward the long-standing ambition of conversational assistants that can smoothly help humans with a wide range of writing needs.

FAQ

Q: What are the key differences between ChatGPT and Bard?
A: ChatGPT tends to provide more detailed, nuanced responses while Bard delivers faster, more concise answers. Bard struggles with coding prompts whereas ChatGPT can generate functioning code.

Q: Which AI tool is better for writing assistance?
A: Overall, ChatGPT appears to be the superior writing assistant at this time, with more human-like responses, better handling of complex writing requests, and fewer limitations.

Q: What are the strengths of Google's Bard AI?
A: Bard returns results faster than ChatGPT. It also provides multiple draft responses for prompts. However, its writing capabilities are not yet on par with ChatGPT.

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