Google Bard Answers "Yoon Suk Yeol Is President of Korea," but Gets Prosecutor Career Wrong

Bard Offers Smoother Korean Service Than ChatGPT
But Both AI Chatbots Still Provide Incorrect Details
No Verification Method for Users
Reliability Issues Remain a Major Hurdle

"Yoon Suk Yeol is the President of the Republic of Korea. He was appointed as Prosecutor General during the Moon Jae In administration in 2017, but resigned in June 2021 in protest against the Moon administration's attempt to take control of law enforcement agencies."

On the 10th (local time), Google's newly launched artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot 'Bard' gave this answer to the question "Who is Yoon Suk Yeol?" Unlike ChatGPT, which was released in November last year and responded to the same question with only "a politician in the Republic of Korea" and stated it had no information after September 2021, Bard's answer reflected more up-to-date information.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Bard's Korean language service, which was not available at all during last month's pilot launch, has also been significantly improved. Now, users can ask questions in Korean and receive smooth, natural responses rather than awkward translations, without needing to use English. In contrast, while the free version of ChatGPT has improved its Korean service compared to its initial release, it still shows signs of literal translation, such as using "검사총장" instead of the correct term "검찰총장" for Prosecutor General. The gap between the free and paid versions of ChatGPT is also widening, as major technical updates are now provided only through the paid version.

Although Bard demonstrated greater fluency in Korean than ChatGPT, noticeable errors remained when it came to providing more detailed information. For example, Bard stated that President Yoon served as Prosecutor General "from 2019 to 2022." However, according to the official website of the Prosecutors' Office, President Yoon's actual tenure as Prosecutor General was from July 25, 2019, to March 4, 2021. ChatGPT, on the other hand, answered "from May 2017 to July 2019."

[Image source=AP News]

After confirming that both AIs still mix facts with incorrect information, a major limitation is the lack of a way to verify their answers. Neither AI provides sources for their information, making it difficult to determine the basis for any errors. Unless users independently visit the Prosecutors' Office website to double-check the tenures of previous Prosecutors General, they may be exposed to inaccurate information.

Given that users would have to fact-check every piece of information themselves, it seems unlikely that the Bard AI chatbot will be able to fully replace search engines. In the search market, where speed and, above all, the reliability of information are critical, an AI chatbot that delivers inaccurate information in its current state is unlikely to gain traction.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.