Google's New AI, Bard - 1st Impression

You might expect a well-known and powerful company like Google to eventually enter the AI competition arena. One could assume that Google has had a major AI-like system for years, used for web searches and information gathering. Or perhaps not? My first impression of Bard, Google's response to ChatGPT, is, "Holy $#%&! This might be the worst AI I've encountered in over a year!"

Let me explain the level of detail I usually expect. As a toy designer, I use AI to help me collect images of toys, conduct market research, and explore styles and color schemes, among other things. Recently, a client requested generic toy robots but wasn't sure about the exact appearance. This is where AI shines, by generating images/mock-ups in a variety of possible styles.

A very traditional cute metal toy robot design - requested in metallic silver without colors

Another variation showing different flocked materials and some color accents

Above are two examples of robot toy designs, created by Dall-E (also known as ChatGPT-4).

I find Dall-E to be the best at "listening" to exactly what I'm asking for in my toy design prompts. Many other image generators tend to overlook key details mentioned in the prompt. Now, let's look at what Google's Bard created. Note: This was done using the exact same prompts I used with Dall-E.

Google . . . I'm speechless. (Was this thing shot in the chest?)

This one's even better. And by "better" I mean worse.
Why the colors? Why does it look old, grimy and used.

These things would give nightmares to the Island of Misfit Toys. They do look as if a child created them. The colors are so muted and conflicting. If AI was involved with these designs, I'd like to know how it came to this point. Personally, I feel Google shouldn't have released Bard to the public. They should have kept it closed until their technology was at least on par with the AI world a year ago.