Google staff criticize CEO Sundar Pichai for ‘rushed, botched’ announcement of GPT competitor Bard

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

Anindito Mukherjee | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs

Google staff are criticizing management, maximum particularly CEO Sundar Pichai, for the best way the corporate treated the announcement this week of its ChatGPT competitor referred to as Bard.

Staffers took to the preferred inside discussion board memegen to precise their ideas at the Bard announcement, regarding it as “rushed,” “botched” and “un-Googley,” in keeping with messages and memes seen through CNBC.

On Monday, Google were given forward of a Microsoft match the next day to come and had Pichai publicly disclose some main points of the corporate’s chatbot generation. Extra about Bard used to be printed on Wednesday at an match held in Paris.

In between the ones occasions, Microsoft, an early investor in ChatGPT author OpenAI, showcased how its Bing seek engine will combine with the buzzy chat generation, inviting journalists to an indication on the corporate’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

All the way through Google’s Wednesday match, seek boss Prabhakar Raghavan in brief shared some slides with examples of Bard’s features. Folks tuning in anticipated to listen to extra, and a few staff weren’t even acutely aware of the development. One presenter forgot to convey a telephone that used to be required for the demo.

In the meantime, other people on Twitter started stating that an advert for Bard introduced an fallacious description of a telescope used to take the primary photos of a planet outdoor our sun device.

Whilst Google staff steadily flip to memegen to humorously poke a laugh on the corporate’s quirks and missteps, the posts after the Bard announcement struck a extra critical tone or even went immediately after Pichai.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks throughout a keynote deal with pronouncing ChatGPT integration for Bing at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, on February 7, 2023.

Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Photographs

“Pricey Sundar, the Bard release and the layoffs had been rushed, botched, and myopic,” learn one meme that integrated a major image of Pichai. “Please go back to taking a long-term outlook.” The publish gained many upvotes from staff.

A Google consultant didn’t in an instant reply to a request for remark.

“Sundar, and management, deserve a Perf NI,” some other highly-rated meme learn, regarding the bottom class within the corporate’s worker efficiency evaluate device. “They’re being comically brief sighted and un-Googlely of their pursuit of ‘sprucing focal point.’”

Ultimate 12 months, Pichai referred to as on staff to be extra centered. Management steadily implores staffers to be “Googley,” which loosely method being bold and hardworking, with admire and teamwork in thoughts.

Alphabet stocks have tumbled over 9% this week on issues about ChatGPT’s danger to Google’s core seek trade and to the corporate’s hastened response to Microsoft’s match.

“Dashing Bard to marketplace in a panic validated the marketplace’s concern about us,” one highly-rate meme learn. The hooked up photograph used to be of a hen doing a facepalm.

Google’s place in synthetic intelligence is a well-recognized worry. At a December all-hands assembly, staff requested in regards to the corporate’s aggressive edge in AI as ChatGPT used to be starting off within the public eye. Executives answered through pronouncing the corporate’s recognition may just undergo if it strikes too speedy on AI-chat generation, which is a ways from easiest.

A highly-read meme this week confirmed a picture of a dumpster fireplace with the Google “G” brand on it. The textual content mentioned, “How the entirety’s felt since ultimate 12 months.”

Every other meme referred to ultimate month’s introduced layoffs, which resulted within the lack of 12,000 jobs, or 6% of the corporate’s body of workers. The meme featured a photograph of actor Nicolas Cage smiling and mentioned “Firing 12k other people rises the inventory through 3%, one rushed AI presentation drops it through 8%.” 

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