Shares of Google parent company %Alphabet ($GOOGL) plunged 8%, wiping more than $100 billion U.S. from the company’s market capitalization, after its new artificial intelligence (AI) %Chatbot made a mistake during a public demonstration.
The chatbot, named Bard, answered a question incorrectly during the demonstration, leading to audible gasps from the assembled audience and leading Alphabet’s stock to crater.
During the promotion, the AI bot was asked what to tell a nine-year-old about discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope.
It said that the telescope was the first to take pictures of a planet outside the earth’s solar system, when in fact that milestone was achieved by the European Very Large Telescope back in 2004.
Astronomers who were watching the demonstration through a live online feed quickly took to Twitter to point out the mistake.
Investors were also underwhelmed by a presentation Alphabet gave about its plans to deploy artificial intelligence in its various products, including its Google search engine.
Alphabet is under pressure to release an AI chatbot to rival %ChatGPT, an AI system developed by %Microsoft ($MSFT) backed OpenAI.
Earlier this week, Microsoft said a new version of its Bing search engine would use ChatGPT technology in an advanced form.
Although investors have largely embraced advances in artificial intelligence, critics have warned that rushing out the technology raises risks of errors or that the technology could be misused.
Google said its demonstration mishap highlighted “the importance of a rigorous testing process.”
Last month, Alphabet cut 12,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global workforce, following fourth quarter earnings that underwhelmed.
Alphabet’s stock is down 30% over the last 12 months and trading at $99.37 U.S. per share.