"War" has begun! Google folks, roll up your sleeves!
Want work-life balance? Maybe you should consider if this is not the right place for you!
As a major tech company that has been deeply involved in the field of AI for many years and is renowned for its technical prowess in Silicon Valley, Google's performance in this round of competition with OpenAI can be considered embarrassing. Compared to the popular ChatGPT, Google's AI chatbot Bard has been lagging behind and has received little attention.
But the situation may soon change.
According to media reports, Sissie Hsiao, the Vice President of Product leading the Bard team, is instilling a "wolf culture" in her subordinates, aiming to overturn Google's overly cautious and slow approach.
For example, employees are required to work overtime on weekends and evenings to meet project deadlines. Some employees describe Bard as being in a "war-time" state, with a much faster pace than other departments at Google. Legal reviews of new features that used to take a quarter to prepare can now be completed in a week.
Two informed sources told the media that shortly after the launch of the first version of Bard, when a Bard employee asked Sissie Hsiao about work-life balance concerns, Hsiao stated that anyone with such concerns should consult their manager to see if the Bard team is suitable for them.
Hsiao is a heavyweight figure at Google, having been responsible for Google's advertising and Play Store business and being skilled in making money. Her appointment to lead the Bard team also demonstrates Google's emphasis on Bard.
Bard was launched in March this year as a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, capable of performing similar tasks such as coding, summarizing documents, and generating articles or marketing copy based on simple prompts.
Currently, the Bard team has grown to hundreds of people, but it still lags far behind its competitor OpenAI. According to media reports, OpenAI's annual revenue has reached $1.3 billion. Bard, on the other hand, does not yet have a decent product and the team is under tremendous pressure, forcing them to take swift action.
Currently, Google has not disclosed Bard's user data or future pricing plans. However, Bard's importance to Google is likely to increase over time. In the future, Bard may be integrated with Google's voice assistant, Google Assistant (similar to Apple's Siri).