Google tests an AI assistant that offers life advice

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Google, locked in an accelerating competition with rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI to develop AI technology, was looking for ways to put a charge into its artificial intelligence research. So in April, Google merged DeepMind, a research lab it had acquired in London, with Brain, an artificial intelligence team it started in Silicon Valley.

Four months later, the combined groups are testing ambitious new tools that could turn generative AI — the technology behind chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's own Bard — into a personal life coach. Google DeepMind has been working with generative AI to perform at least 21 different types of personal and professional tasks, including tools to give users life advice, ideas, planning instructions and tutoring tips, according to documents and other materials reviewed by The New York Times.

The project was indicative of the urgency of Google's effort to propel itself to the front of the AI pack and signaled its increasing willingness to trust AI systems with sensitive tasks. The capabilities also marked a shift from Google's earlier caution on generative AI.

In a slide deck presented to executives in December, the company's AI safety experts had warned of the dangers of people becoming too emotionally attached to chatbots. Though it was a pioneer in generative AI, Google was overshadowed by OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in November, igniting a race among tech giants and startups for primacy in the fast-growing space.