“So, what shall we chat about today?”
Image created with Midjourney.
Here at Immedia, we are surely not insulated from the recent developments in the realm of AI writing. ChatGPT was the first major AI chatbot to arrive in our modern public consciousness, and since then other tech firms have pushed out their own versions of AI writing bots. But how can we distinguish them, and which one should you use? Here’s a quick rundown.
Comparing the three major chatbots
ChatGPT is a generative pre-trained transformer (this is what GPT stands for!) language model that was developed by OpenAI. A transformer is a machine learning model, trained on a massive dataset of text and computer code. This allows it to generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and respond to questions. It was publicly released in November 2022, and received significant attention immediately.
Bard is a large language model from Google AI, powered by LaMDA, launched in March 2023 in direct response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. LaMDA stands for Language Model for Dialogue Applications, and it refers to a family of conversational large language models developed by Google. Like ChatGPT, it was similarly trained on a massive dataset of text and code.
Bing probably isn’t new to most of us: it’s a search engine from Microsoft launched way back in 2009, as a rebranding of their previous search efforts. In February 2023 Microsoft unveiled a new iteration of Bing which included a chatbot based on ChatGPT, further customised with what the company calls its “Prometheus model”. Microsoft claims that this combination provides “more relevant, timely and targeted results, with improved safety.” One thing to back up this claim is the fact that OpenAI’s ChatGPT bot was trained on data only up to 2021. Bing, with its search capabilities, can therefore more accurately respond to queries related to far more recent events.
Fit for purpose?
So which one of these three should you utilise, if you’re looking to accelerate or supplement your content marketing needs?
ChatGPT has become known for its ability to generate creative text formats, while Bard has shown some ability to answer questions in a comprehensive and informative way. Bing is noted for its ability to provide relevant results to users’ queries.
And so, the best LLM for you depends on your needs. If you need an LLM that can generate a fairly large range of text genres, then ChatGPT is a good option. For an LLM that can answer simple questions, Bard is a good option. Or, if you need something that can search for information on the web and answer questions, then Bing is a good option.
We’ve find that ChatGPT and Bard are hit-and-miss when it comes to provision of factual information. This puts pause on how reliant one can be on these two LLMs, as it will require an additional step to fact-check the generated content.
More on the way
One more thing: Meta has also developed its own large language model, christened LLaMA (Large Language Model Meta AI). Meta did not release LLaMA as a public chatbot, but in February 2023 offered it as an open-source package that anyone can request access to. It does require technical expertise to get it up and running, however. Meta claims it focused on refining performance rather than maximising the training dataset. Based on early reports, LLaMA appears to be quite powerful, but not yet fine-tuned for conversational interactions. Its real-world widescale performance remains to be seen.
All in all, the age of AI is upon us, and these are exciting, heady, and maybe even unsettling times for those of us in the content creation and content marketing industries. How will the use of LLMs augment your workflow, and how will they shift your content goals?
Beyond LLMs
Contrend, in contrast, is not an LLM. It’s Immedia Holding’s proprietary analytic system to identify specific gaps in your specific content landscape, be it topic, genre, tone, style and/or length.
Here at Immedia Content we leverage the machine-learning intelligence of Contrend, and intertwine it with our deep content experience. One fuels the other. It creates an incredible checks-and-balances system, so the content gets sharper as the platform learns, just as the platform gets wiser from the editorial leadership. We operate in unison with Contrend.
We then enable and empower you to create a targeted and bespoke content strategy to open new marketing frontiers for you. We’re ready to talk anytime! So come connect with us; drop us an email at inquiries@immediaholdings.com.