Google Bard is ‘a pathological liar’! Now we stand to lose our mind…haiyaa! But, this statement is coming straight from the horse’s mouth! Google employees are repeatedly claiming Google Bard is ‘a pathological liar’, since day 1 of launching! So, it’s time to think again, is Google Bard safe to use?
“Bard is worse than useless: please do not launch.” – Google’s employee confessed in a Bloomberg interview. The report from Bloomberg is eye-opening. The hideous truth behind the curtain is out now. It’s been two months since Bard is now available to the public; but is Google Bard safe for us?
Google has always dominated the “search” world, providing more effective results to users. Moreover, they were implementing AI to improve their search engine and other products. However, the introduction and the popularity of ChatGPT pushed Google to launch Bard, which is supposed to be better than ChatGPT; but, admittedly, Google Bard is underbaked, and no way Google Bard safe for use.
Is Google Bard Safe To Use?
The answer is bitter, yet we have to admit that Google Bard is not error-free and mostly misinformative. So, if you are relying on Google Bard for research purposes, Google Bard is not safe. If we look at the current status of Google Bard, it is full of flaws and needs more improvements and testing before making it available to the public. But, Google introduced Bard without ensuring ‘safety’ and Bard is continuously failing to meet the expectations. Errors in the Bard-generated answers is a very common problem, but the main concern is that Bard is generating biased and provocative advices that is not good for mankind.
“The staffers who are responsible for the safety and ethical implications of new products have been told not to get in the way or to try to kill any of the generative AI tools in development,” Google employees told Bloomberg.
So, what do you think – is Google Bard safe to use?
How Safe Is Google Bard?
We have been taught using AI is ‘power’, but the Google employee feedback on Google Bard will teach you that using AI is more ‘responsibility’ than ‘power’. So, if you are concerned – is Google Bard safe? You should evaluate first, how you are using this AI-powered chatbot, and what is your purpose.
It is proven that Bard safety mechanisms are often laid down when complex questions are asked. Also, Bloomberg reportedly claimed that Bard has generated dangerous ideas on how to land a plane or Scuba diving methods that can lead to possible injuries. An AI chatbot like Bard that has open access to the internet could be turned into a dangerous weapon by any person with ill interest just by influencing Google Bard with prompts to generate ideas that hurt mankind.
What Are The Potential Risks And Threats of Google Bard?
The Internal safety team has reportedly claimed that Google Bard “overruled a risk evaluation” [cited by Bloomberg]. The report further illustrates that Google has intentionally overlooked the ‘ethical issue’ of Bard just to compete with OpenAI and launched Bard without proper evaluation. Consequently, here are some of the potential risks and threats that you confront using Google Bard:
1. Business Email Compromise
Business Email Compromise [BEC] is already a huge threat and cost USD 2.7 billion last year and will continue to grow. Now that cybercriminals have access to Bard, they can generate unlimited phishing emails without any malicious string detection, which is going to cause more trouble.
2. Privacy Concerns
Google is promoting users to use their personal email ID to sign up for Google Bard. Now that your personal Gmail ID is linked with all your personal information, this could make your personal data vulnerable. There is a controversy that Google might be accessing the personal data and chats and feeding Bard for improvement.
3. Misuse of Data
Most people use Google Workspace and other tools for personal work and rely greatly on Google for the safe keeping of data. However, if Bard intersects the privacy terms and misuses your personal data, then your personal information is vulnerable to cyber threats. So, is Google Bard safe to access your personal data?
4. Can Be Used to generate harmful or misleading content
Bard is lacking the ‘ethical check’. It is proven and accepted by Google employees. It can be assumed that by using complex prompts anyone can tear the protection barrier and use Google Bard to generate harmful and misleading content.
5. Biased AI
Google Bard-generated results are biased just like ChatGPT. These AI conversational bots are trained with data that has molded them to be biased on certain things. For example, When ChatGPT asked to compare between Trump and Biden, chatGPT generated a biased response for Trump and was inclined towards Biden with an exaggerated positive approach! When we asked the same question to Bard, its answer was more reasonable and open-ended leaving the users to decide who is the best. Apparently, Google Bard is working on overcoming the issue just like ChatGPT; but still, a long way to go.
6. Misinformation and Disinformation
Placing misinformation and disinformation are the greeting dent to the Bard AI. The motive of releasing Bard is to help people with their searches by providing them with personalized and accurate answers. But, it is often found that facts are misplaced in Bard’s answers. People depending on Bard for research, especially students are becoming victims of misinformation placed by Bard.
7. Spam and Phishing
Generating spam and phishing content is an old issue in the industry. However, with the introduction of Google Bard with no safety limits, anyone can now generate spam and phishing content with Bard. And that’s why if you think Google Bard safe, no, it’s not.
8. Hate speech and Harassment
Google Bard is biased and allegedly generates hate speech that causes harassment to some groups of people. If not corrected, the content generated with Google Bard may ignite a fire that can burn the Google empire down.
9. Cybersecurity Threats
Google Bard is carrying a potential threat to cyber security. Bard AI has the power to generate working codes to create any app or software. Hackers can use Google Bard technology to generate codes and create apps or programs to breach any cybersecurity.
10. Ethical Concerns
When it comes to ethical concerns, Google Bard has already breached them. Jen Gennai, who leads the “responsible innovation” team at Google, reportedly unnoticed the evaluation that says Bard is not ready! Yet, they launched Bard with a simple tag “Experiment” to overrule any consequences and improve the “ethical issue” based on user feedback.
Conclusion
Whether it is Musk or Imran Chaudhri, all tech heads admitted that we have to be more careful while using AI technology as the power is still unknown. We still do not know how much space we should leave AI to learn what we know and what are our boundaries. Playing with AI that has no ethical concern can damage mankind. We have to admit that all AI characters and tools in SciFi movies do not always have a good ending. Google Bard still needs to go through more changes and moreover learn morality and ethics before it starts exploiting the users.
