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Does Google Bard plagiarise?
We asked Google Bard this very question, and here’s how it responded:
Like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar, at least Bard owns up to the deed.
Following on from recent reports that Google Bard plagiarised a Tom’s Hardware article, we were interested to find out if Google’s AI was really offering up copied content.
The service was recently launched in the giant footsteps of ChatGPT and GPT-4, though it has seen criticism for responding to questions with false information. We tried it out with image input to be met with some incorrect, yet funny, responses, and it seems as though there’s still a few hitches here and there with the AI, but let’s dig deeper to find out if it really plagiarises content.
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Does Google Bard plagiarise content on purpose?
There’s no way of knowing if Google Bard ‘plagiarises’ content on purpose, though the likelihood is that it doesn’t. Regardless, we asked the AI if it does it on purpose, and here is how it responded:
Perhaps slightly more chagrin than before, this time the chatbot pre-emptively excuses its ‘plagiarism’ as a fault not yet known to the developers. It even acknowledges that ‘it is a serious problem’ which turns down the heat slightly.
However, if you select ‘view other drafts’ you can see another response from Bard:
This time, it offers up a slightly more practical response, and suggests that “LLMs are not capable of understanding the concept of plagiarism, and they do not intentionally copy content from other sources.”
At least now we understand that Google Bard doesn’t appear to intentionally plagiarise, and that any instances of this may be seen more as a bug. Regardless, it doesn’t change what’s happened…
Is Google Bard plagiarism free?
So, is Google Bard plagiarism free? Our honest opinion is that if you’re an academic, student, or content creator, and you’re relying on Google Bard to provide you with generative content, then you could arguably run the risk of plagiarism no matter what AI tool you use.
Read More: Can ChatGPT be detected for plagiarism?
To add to that – Google Bard is a tool. It isn’t a person and, despite the sudden advancements in artificial intelligence’s ‘personalities’, it will likely never be able to acknowledge its actions. Even still, the fears of the potential misuses of AI and the effects it will have on creatives and academics isn’t something to be swept under the rug.
That said, Google has reiterated that Bard is an experimental tool, and that the chatbot’s release is literally a training process. If you have encountered issues with the service, you can provide feedback by following through this link: Try Bard and share your feedback.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Google Bard accidentally plagiarise?
Bard accidentally plagiarises as it is a LLM that is still being trained with data. It needs to make mistakes in order to learn.
Will Google Bard be detected by plagiarism checkers?
Google Bard will likely be detected by plagiarism checkers, as the content it outputs is largely no different to that which a human might create.
