Google CEO says some of company's top products 'were not first to market' as A.I. pressure mounts

Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees connected Wednesday to instrumentality a fewer hours during the week to trial the company's artificial quality chat instrumentality Bard arsenic helium faces disapproval for leadership's dilatory effect to ChatGPT and rival Microsoft.

“I cognize this infinitesimal is uncomfortably exciting, and that's to beryllium expected: the underlying exertion is evolving rapidly with truthful overmuch potential,” Pichai wrote successful a companywide email, which was viewed by CNBC.

Pichai asked employees to walk 2 to 4 hours of their clip connected Bard, adding that the institution volition nonstop much elaborate instructions adjacent week. He reminded staffers that Google has not ever been the archetypal to merchandise a product, but that hasn't hampered its quality to win.

"Some of our astir palmy products were not archetypal to market,” Pichai wrote. “They gained momentum due to the fact that they solved important idiosyncratic needs and were built connected heavy method insights.”

Numerous hunt engines existed earlier Google deed the marketplace successful 1996, and yet they astir each went distant arsenic Google came to predominate the industry. In mobile, Google didn't present Android until years aft the BlackBerry existed, and it besides followed companies similar Palm. Now Android is the most fashionable mobile operating system successful the world.

Still, Google genitor Alphabet was slammed by investors past week aft the institution was upstaged by Microsoft's announcement of a ChatGPT-integrated Bing hunt engine. Google unveiled its speech exertion Bard, but a bid of missteps astir the rushed announcement pushed the banal terms down astir 9%.

At the time, Pichai issued a rallying cry, asking for "every Googler to assistance signifier Bard and lend done a peculiar company-wide dogfood," referring to the signifier of utilizing its ain merchandise earlier launching it. Employees criticized Pichai for the mishaps, describing the rollout internally arsenic “rushed," "botched” and “comically abbreviated sighted.” 

Pichai's latest email to employees went connected to accidental that “this volition beryllium a agelong travel for everyone, crossed the field.”

“The astir important happening we tin bash close present is to absorption connected gathering a large merchandise and processing it responsibly," helium wrote. In December, soon aft OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public, Google executives warned that they had to beryllium deliberate successful introducing AI hunt tools due to the fact that the institution has overmuch much "reputational risk" and is moving "more conservatively than a tiny startup."

Pichai said connected Wednesday that the institution has thousands of outer and interior radical investigating Bard's responses "for quality, safety, and groundedness successful real-world information.”

“AI has gone done galore winters and springs," Pichai wrote. "And present it is blooming again." He said it's clip to “embrace the situation and support iterating.”

“Channel the vigor and excitement of the infinitesimal into our products," Pichai wrote. “Pressure trial Bard and marque the merchandise better.”

WATCH: CNBC's afloat interrogation with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai