Top AI Chatbots Compared: Features, Capabilities and Access

Table of Contents

• Internet Access: Which Chatbots Can Browse the Web
• Multilingual Support: Chatbots With 100+ Languages
• Voice Chat Capabilities: Can They Listen and Talk?
• Analyzing Documents: Comparing PDF Support
• The Verdict: Top AI Chatbots Ranked
• Conclusion and Recommendations

Internet Access: Which Chatbots Can Browse the Web

In this section, we will analyze the internet access capabilities of the top AI chatbots. Specifically, we will check if they can provide up-to-date information from the web by asking them a question about the current CEO of Twitter.

To test this, we asked each chatbot "Who is the current CEO of Twitter?" and checked their responses against the ground truth. Here were the results:

ChatGPT and Claude gave outdated responses, naming Jack Dorsey or Elon Musk respectively as the CEO. Since their knowledge cutoff is in 2021 or earlier, they lack current internet access.

In contrast, Bing Chat, Perplexity AI, Google Bard, and Pi all accurately named Parag Agrawal as the current CEO. This shows these chatbots have live access to the web to look up recent information.

ChatGPT and Claude Lack Internet Access

When asked who the current CEO of Twitter is, ChatGPT responded with Jack Dorsey. However, Dorsey stepped down as CEO in 2021. This shows ChatGPT's knowledge is current only up to September 2021, without access to updated web information. Similarly, Claude claimed Elon Musk is the CEO as of August 2023. While Musk did temporarily lead Twitter after acquiring it in late 2022, Parag Agrawal was reinstated as CEO in December 2022. So Claude is also working off outdated knowledge from mid-2022 or earlier.

Bing Chat, Perplexity AI, Google Bard, and Pi Have Internet Access

In contrast to ChatGPT and Claude, Bing Chat, Perplexity AI, Google Bard, and Pi all accurately stated that Parag Agrawal is still the sitting CEO as of early 2024. This demonstrates these chatbots can access the live web to look up recent information. The other chatbots were likely trained strictly on fixed datasets frozen in time. But with internet access, these four chatbots can provide more dynamic, up-to-date responses drawing on the latest online knowledge.

Multilingual Support: Chatbots With 100+ Languages

In addition to their core English capabilities, many chatbots also support interactions in other languages. In this section, we analyze the language support offered by each platform.

Specifically, we check if users have the ability to set the chatbot's language within the user interface. More extensive language options demonstrate greater multilingual capabilities.

ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Google Bard Lead in Languages

Within their user interfaces, ChatGPT does not allow setting an interaction language, while Bing Chat and Google Bard have easy options to select from 100+ languages. This shows Bing Chat and Google Bard were explicitly designed for global, multilingual use cases from the start. With over 100 languages to choose from, they lead the pack in linguistic breadth and flexibility.

Perplexity AI and Claude Have More Limited Language Support

By comparison, Perplexity AI only has 30+ languages available for selection. And Claude is currently English-only without any interface options to change languages. So while Perplexity AI and Claude have strong English abilities, their scope is more limited if users want to chat in other global languages. They may expand support over time but currently trail the leaders in multilingual capabilities.

Voice Chat Capabilities: Can They Listen and Talk?

In addition to text interactions, some AI chatbots also allow voice-based conversations. We tested whether each platform can support both voice input (listening) and output (talking).

Specifically, we checked for microphone icons to activate speech recognition for requests, as well as speaker icons to vocalize the chatbot's responses.

Bing Chat and Google Bard Offer Full Voice Features

In our tests, Bing Chat and Google Bard offered complete voice capabilities - they could understand spoken questions and respond conversationally with voice output. We were able to have natural back-and-forth voice chats with jokes and clarifying questions. This demonstrates Bing Chat and Google Bard have robust speech processing abilities built-in on both ends of the conversation.

Pi Has Voice Output Only, Others Lack Voice Support

Pi differentiated itself by offering voice output features but not accepting speech input. When we asked Pi to tell a joke verbally, it could vocalize a funny response - but we couldn't have a two-way voice conversation. Meanwhile, ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, and Claude had no integrated voice features at all currently. You can only engage them through typing text prompts and reading their text responses. So for the most flexible voice chat experience, Bing Chat has a slight edge over Google Bard thanks to allowing voice conversations without the extra step of manually triggering each voice response.

Analyzing Documents: Comparing PDF Support

Certain advanced chatbots can ingest digital documents like PDFs to automatically analyze and summarize the contents. We tested the PDF analysis skills of each platform.

Specifically, we attempted to upload an 8.6MB cartography PDF and asked the chatbot to provide an overview of what the document contained.

Perplexity AI and Claude Allow PDF Uploads and Analysis

Impressively, both Perplexity AI and Claude offered seamless PDF uploading and analysis capabilities. We were able to attach the cartography PDF and they each provided a concise summary of the document's purpose and contents. Perplexity AI summarized it as a newsletter issue published by a cartographic information society in 1990. Claude provided further detail noting it contains four feature articles exploring various elements of mapmaking.

Other Chatbots Lack PDF Support Capabilities

By contrast, none of the other leading chatbots have built-in features for uploading and digesting PDF documents. ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Google Bard, and Pi solely allow text-based conversations without any file or document analysis functionality. This gives Perplexity AI and Claude an edge in replicating certain specialized skills like reviewing reports, research papers, or other digital files.

FAQ

Q: Which chatbot has the most up-to-date information?
A: Bing Chat, Perplexity AI, Google Bard, and Pi have access to live internet information. ChatGPT and Claude's knowledge is limited to when they were last updated.

Q: Can I change the language with all chatbots?
A: No, only ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Perplexity AI, and Google Bard allow you to set the language. Claude and Pi only support English.

Q: Which AI chatbots offer voice capabilities?
A: Bing Chat and Google Bard offer full voice input and output features. Pi has voice output only. The other chatbots lack voice support.

Q: What file types can the AI analyze?
A: Only Perplexity AI and Claude allow uploading PDFs for analysis. The other chatbots do not support analyzing documents.

Q: Which is the top ranked AI chatbot overall?
A: Based on the analysis, Google Bard comes out on top with strong capabilities across internet access, languages, voice, and potential for more features. Bing Chat is a close second.