Googles VP for Bard wants the chatbot to book her kids summer camps
Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc testified about misogyny in British finance, Cambridge University researchers make a morning sickness breakthrough, and Googles VP for Bard has some lofty goals for the chatbot. Have a restorative weekend!
Chatbot goals. Fortune closed out its 2023 events calendar with a timely conference this week: Brainstorm AI. The gathering brought together top leaders in artificial intelligence after an eventful year that included new attention from regulators and the general public.
The program kicked off with a woman to know in AI: Sissie Hsiao, a Google vice president who oversees Bard, Googles ChatGPT competitor. Hsiao is a Microsoft alum who held several roles at Google before leaping into generative AI. Much of her resume is in Googles ads business, where she led advertiser-facing products like AdSense. Recently, Hsiao joined the board of Bumble.
In an interview with Fortune senior writer Jeremy Kahn, Hsiao discussed many of the hottest topics in AIincluding a controversial recent demo video for Googles Gemini large language model.
Hsiao shared some of her favorite use cases based on Googles current AI capabilities and what it will be able to do in the future. Recently, she asked the Gemini model to pair wine with dishes for a multiple-course dinner after viewing a restaurants menu and wine list. It actually did fabulously, she said. Even something as simple as taking a picture of something and asking a question or for the bot to do something for you will become second nature.
Hsiao said her coworker who speaks English as a second language turns to Bard to rewrite his emails and make them more professional.
But what Hsiao most wants Bard to accomplish in her personal life is something many parents will relate to: book summer camps for her kids. I have two kids that have different interests. I need to find camps every week of the summer that are within driving distance where I can pick them up and drop them off, she explained. This is really hard, right? You have to think about all the reasoning that goes into that. Right now, she said, Bard can offer three options per child per week. But wouldnt it be awesome, she added, if I could just say, Please now book this? Were almost there.
For more on Bard, Gemini, and Googles approach to AI, you can watch Hsiaos full interview here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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