Maybe Bard's apparent "behindness" is less about Google's technical merits or lack thereof, and more about it being built with a sense of legal maturity that the competitors don't yet have. After all, Google must have some experience in this space, and we've seen them simply refuse to deploy Bard in regions where (presumably) there is too much legal uncertainty. If 2024's Gemini performs similarly to GPT4 while also navigating legal landmines, maybe it comes out ahead.
Or maybe Bard's lawsuit just hasn't come yet.