Google dropped plans for AI chatbot app targetting Gen Z: Report

Google has dropped plans to launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered mobile chatbot application specifically designed for Gen Z users, featuring interactive digital characters.

The company was working on 'Bubble Characters' app, however it recently “deprioritised” those plans amid an internal reorganisation, according to materials seen by CNBC.

When a product gets deprioritised at Google, the development work on it ceases.

According to internal documentation, the Bubble Characters app featured "a choice of a talking digital character that would interact in conversations with Gen Z users," the report said.

The tech giant had been working on this app since quarter four (Q4) of 2021.

The app’s description mentioned that it featured “human-like” conversations that “take action” and are “interesting for GenZ.”

Large language models—massive data sets used to understand and produce human-like text—powered the conversations.

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

"Within the Assistant organisation, which works on virtual assistant applications or two-way conversations for a variety of platforms, executives have prioritised ChatGPT-competitor Bard amid an internal reorganisation that included the departure of a few key executives," the report said.

Before Bard's release, some members of the Bubble Characters team were asked to take a break from working on the Gen Z app to work on Bard.