The company, which seeks to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT (with Microsoft behind it), announced that for now its tool will be available to a limited number of users in the US and the UK.

On Tuesday, Google finally launched its artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard, in the company’s response to the AI frenzy dominating major tech companies following the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The new chatbot will initially be available to a limited number of users in the U.S. and U.K., with more users, countries and languages to be included over time, Google said Tuesday, though it did not specify exactly how many users would have access to the technology.

Google also announced last week AI-powered features for Google Cloud and Google Workspace, such as Google Docs and Google Sheets, including a feature that would compose emails for users who select a specific topic.

The launch is the latest in the race to dominate the AI space, which accelerated late last year when San Francisco startup OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a chatbot that can answer users’ questions not just by providing links to answers as search engines do, but by offering human-like responses to difficult questions.

39.5 billion. That’s how much Google’s parent company, Alphabet, spent on research and development last year, up from $31.6 billion in 2021, according to company filings.

Microsoft began using ChatGPT technology in its Bing search engine in January. In recent years, Microsoft has invested billions in OpenAI. In fact, as recently as January, the company announced a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI to “accelerate” advances in AI, following previous investments in 2019 and 2021.

The shift to AI with some hurdles.

In a promotional video for its chatbot last month, which was previously recorded, Bard incorrectly answered a question, generating a wave of criticism and wiping more than $100 billion off Alphabet’s market value in a matter of minutes. It was a shot in the foot that spooked some investors.

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