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Google workers blame CEO Sundar Pichai for rocky launch of AI chatbot Bard

Bard stumbled out of the gate this week, and Google employees are criticizing CEO Sundar Pichai over it.

Donovan Erskine

February 10, 2023 1:00 PM

Reuters

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Earlier this week, Google officially unveiled Bard, its new AI chatbot service that’s designed to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The launch was far from smooth, with Google shares taking a dive after the new service made a factual error in a promotional video. Google came under heavy scrutiny for it, and employees seem to be just as disappointed, pinning the blame on CEO Sundar Pichai.

CNBC published a report today in which it revealed that in internal discussions, Google employees have been criticizing CEO Sundar Pichai over his handling of the Bard rollout. The outlet states that it has seen memes and messages shared between employees discussing the Bard launch, describing it as “rushed,” “botched” and “un-Googley.”

Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI creator ChatGPT, and held an event earlier this week to discuss the strides being made by the company in artificial intelligence. Google strategically announced Bard the day prior, and it seems like Sundar Pichair was a driving force behind rushing the event to undercut Microsoft. In one of the first ads for Bard, the service incorrectly stated that the James Webb Space Telescope was the first to take pictures of a planet outside of our solar system. Google’s (GOOGL) stock came falling down after the error was noticed. The stock’s value remains significantly lower than it was prior to the Bard event on Monday.

With multiple Google employees criticizing the company’s CEO’s handling of the Bard rollout, there is clearly some unrest at one of the world’s biggest companies. Workers also referenced the mass layoffs that took place last month in their messages. Google has yet to provide a statement on the rocky launch or the criticisms being levied against its CEO. For more on what’s happening at Google, Shacknews has the information you need.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_