In November 2022, OpenAI unleashed ChatGPT, setting a benchmark for conversational AI. Since then, Google has been playing catch-up with its own tool, Bard. However, at the Google I/O conference, Google Upgrades Bard to Compete with ChatGPT.
Initially launched with limited availability and a waitlist, Bard encountered challenges in gaining traction. Now, Google is removing the waitlist and opening Bard to a global audience, aiming to broaden its reach and impact.
Google also unveiled several advancements to outpace ChatGPT, including multi-language support, visual responses, export functionality, and new integrations. These enhancements are designed to provide users with an enhanced and more versatile conversational AI experience.
During a Google I/O keynote, Sissie Hsiao, VP and GM of Google Assistant and Bard, highlighted the transformative impact of large language models and the team’s dedication to rapid improvement and iterative development of Bard.
With these updates, Google aims to position Bard as a competitive alternative to ChatGPT, leveraging its own advancements and capabilities in the field of conversational AI.
The term “bard” is a word used to describe a storyteller and is a moniker that is also commonly associated with famous English playwright William Shakespeare.
Bard’s words aren’t written by Shakespeare, or any other human (at least, not directly), but rather are generated from Google’s newest large language model (LLM) PaLM 2, which was also announced at today’s Google I/O event.
PaLM 2 provides Bard with significantly enhanced generative AI capabilities that exceed the initial functionality that Bard launched with earlier this year.
“With PaLM 2, Bard’s math, logic and reasoning skills made a huge leap forward, underpinning its ability to help developers with programming,” Hsiao said. “Bard can now collaborate on tasks like code generation, debugging and explaining code snippets.”
With code generation, Bard is also going a step further in its bid to help outpace OpenAI’s capabilities. Hsiao said that starting next week, Bard will integrate precise code citations to help developers understand exactly where code snippets have come from.
What good is a Bard if you can’t share its work?
Another limitation of the original Bard was that responses and generated content remained in Bard, but that’s also about to change.
Hsiao announced that, starting today, Bard is adding export actions for Gmail and Google Docs, making it easy to integrate generated content. Going a step further, she announced that more extensibility is coming to Bard with the launch of tools and extensions.
“As you collaborate with Bard, you’ll be able to tap into services from Google and extensions with partners to let you do things never before possible,” Hsiao said.
Bard going multilingual
English isn’t the only language that Google’s users speak and soon it won’t be the only language that Bard supports either.
The plan is for Bard to support 40 different languages, starting today with Japanese and Korean, with more to come in the following months.
“It’s amazing to see the rate of progress so far with more advanced models. So many new capabilities and the ability for even more people to collaborate with Bard,” Hsiao said.
