Google held its annual Google I/O developer conference this week, and it’s not a surprise that its generative AI tools Bard, made up a sizable chunk of the company’s announcements.
According to Google, the Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant’s updates include expanding access to Bard, bringing new visual capabilities to its AI-powered chatbot Bard, improving the generative AI’s coding capabilities and adding new productivity integrations.
Google Expanding Bard access
Purportedly in response to ChatGPT and competitor Microsoft’s massive investment in OpenAI, Google announced its large language model-powered chatbot Bard in February and launched it in March in a preview. Now, the company is removing the waitlist and opening up Bard to over 180 countries and territories, with more coming soon, Google says.
New Google Bard visual tools
In addition to new languages, Google is soon adding new visual interactions to Bard that will allow users to ask questions and get images in response to help explain the text. Also, users can use images in their own prompts via a Google Lens integration that will allow Bard to analyze the photo and include analysis in its response.
Google Bard Developer tools
Based on feedback from developers, Google is also introducing new features designed to make Bard a better coding assistant. With coding one of the main use cases of these early days of generative AI, Google hopes to strengthen Bard’s capabilities with more precise source citations, a dark theme and “export” button.
New Google Bard integrations
According to Google, export actions allow users to take Bard’s email and document drafts and move them directly into Gmail and Docs, respectively.
Source citations are rolling out next week, and the “export” button is listed as “coming soon.” Meanwhile, dark theme is now available.
The company also says it is working on integrating popular Google tools such as Docs, Drive, Gmail, Maps and more directly into Bard, and is also adding integrations with third-party software from Adobe, Kayak, OpenTable, ZipRecruiter, Instacart and more.
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