Google abandons Gen-Z oriented chatbot app: Report

Efforts to release the Gen-Z targeted app were “deprioritised” amid an internal reorganisation

Tech-giant Google has dropped its plan to release an AI-powered mobile chatbot app aimed at Gen Z users, according to a report by CNBC.

Efforts to release the app were “deprioritised” amid an internal reorganisation, the report suggests. Typically, when a product is deprioritised at Google, work on it ceases.

The app named “Bubble Characters” was to feature the choice of an interactive digital character, which would talk to Gen Z users, CNBC said citing internal documentation. Work on the app had started in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Google's description of the app suggests that it featured “human-like” conversations that “take action” and would be “interesting for GenZ.” These conversations were powered by large language models (LLMs), which would generate text similar to human-conversation.

“What started out as something from a science fiction novel, became the next generation of human-level conversation,” the app’s description read.

Google's LLM is being applied to various similar projects which harness the AI-tool's power to generate text, however reports suggest executives have prioritised Google Bard amid an internal reorganisation. Bard is Google's initiative all set to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Some of the Bubble Characters team members were asked to put a pause on their work on the Gen Z app to work on Bard ahead of its launch, the report added.