Google just gave its AI tool – called Bard – some major upgrades that make it even more useful.
Bard is Google’s answer to ChatGPT but with one key difference – Bard has access to the real time web, which means it can give you answers about things that just happened.
“You can use Bard to boost your productivity and really help you solve everyday problems,” said Sissie Hsiao, Google’s VP of Bard and Assistant.
Hsiao says people are using the AI chatbot for productivity, creativity and, yes, companionship.
“It’s kind of fun to just talk to an AI sometimes about, you know, anything on the top of your mind.
Bard’s first new superpower: you can upload an image for it to analyze.
It can write descriptions, identify ingredients, and even write a caption for your Instagram post.
Just don’t try uploading a photo with people, right now it can’t help with that.
Also new, Bard has a voice. Instead of just reading text answers on the screen, you can tap the speaker icon next to an answer and Bard will read it out loud.
Speaking of, well, speaking… Bard is now available in over 40 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi and Spanish.
Getting them all right has been a challenge.
“We have to get things like inflections right in different languages, and we also need to make sure that we’re being culturally aware of all these different languages,” said Hsiao.
The answers you get can be different depending on what language you ask them in.
Finally, a top requested feature: you can now save chats for later.
Just tap the pin icon next to a recent chat and you can revisit the conversation or access it on another device. This is handy for starting a chat on your computer and seeing it on the go on your phone.
Keep in mind Bard history has to be turned on for this feature to work.
Bard is just one of many AI tools now available to users around the world, and although some implications of this new technology are scary, one thing seems certain:
“This is going to change the world, right? This is gonna make people way more productive and help them explore their imaginations and creativity in really unique ways,” concluded Hsiao.