Google Abandons Waiting List for AI Chatbot Bard, Announces Streams of New Features

Google is adding new features to its AI chatbot bard, including support for new languages ​​(Japanese and Korean), easier ways to export text to Google Docs and Gmail, visual search, and a dark mode. Most importantly, the company Eliminates waiting list for bard It also makes the system available in English in over 180 countries and territories. It also promises future features such as Adobe-powered AI image creation and integration with third-party web services such as Instacart and OpenTable.

Overall, the news is a shot at the bard, and it was Released two months ago For select users in the US and UK. The chatbot, which Google still insists is not a replacement for its search engine — pales in comparison to rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGBT and Microsoft’s new Bing chatbot. Notably, Bart made a factual error in its first public demo (although this problem is common to all such bots). Now, Google is adding one A lot New features and updates Bard to use its new PalM 2 language model. It should improve its general responses and usability.

Google says the updated Bard is particularly good at debugging code queries, including debugging and interpreting code snippets in more than 20 languages, so some of today’s updates focus on this use case. These include a new dark mode, improved citations for code (which not only provide sources but also explain snippets), and a new export button. It may already be used Send code to Google’s Colab platform But now another browser-based IDE, Replit (starting with Python queries) will work.

For more general applications, Google is further visualizing Bard, with the ability to analyze images, present images in query results, and create visuals using AI (a feature coming “in the coming months” powered by Adobe’s Firefly software).

Some Google queries also appear in the visual results bar. “What are some must-see sights in New Orleans?” The company provides an example asking that. Creates a list of places associated with the setting – the French Quarter, the Audubon Zoo, etc. – illustrated by the type of images you’d get in a typical Google image search.

The most interesting function is the ability to stimulate the computer with A picture. It’s powered by Google Lens, which can recognize objects in images. Google offers an example of submitting a photo of your dogs with the command “Write a funny caption about these two.” Google Lens identifies breeds of dogs, and then Bart writes something related to their characteristics. It’s a little tricky feature, but it can have a lot of creative potential – depending on how well the system is integrated.

Adobe’s AI image generator, Firefly, will soon be integrated into Bard, Google says. This is notable because Adobe marketed Firefly on the “ethical” nature of its training data (a criticism that has sparked lawsuits against other AI imaging tools). This will be the first of many third-party integrations for Bard (what Google calls “tools”), which Google promises will soon be connected to “excellent services from Google apps and across the web.”

It’s a substantial addition, but it’s notable that Google is keeping feature parity with its competitors. Microsoft added AI image generation powered by OpenAI’s DALL-E system to Bing in March, while both OpenAI and Microsoft are exploring how to integrate chatbots with the wider web. OpenAI first announced this feature for ChatGPT earlier this year, using cases like using a bot to make a restaurant reservation through OpenTable or order groceries through Instacart, for example. Google says it’s working with similar services.

While these new features collectively represent a major upgrade for Bard, the service still has an existential question: What is Bard for? While Google insists that the bot isn’t a replacement for search, that doesn’t stop people from using it. With Google adding more AI features across its domain and changes to search in the pipeline, is Bart the playground for the company’s AI ambitions? If so, that might not be a bad thing.