Google has launched its ChatGPT alternative Google Bard AI on Early Access. It is now available for consumers in the US and UK currently. It is available on the waitlist, just like Bing AI when it was first launched.
Last month, the search engine giant announced its Bard AI chatbot through a blog post detailing the features. It did not reveal any demo of the tool back then.
Google said about this launch, “You can use Bard to boost your productivity, accelerate your ideas and fuel your curiosity. You might ask Bard to give you tips to reach your goal of reading more books this year, explain quantum physics in simple terms or spark your creativity by outlining a blog post.”
Google Bard is based on Google’s Large Language Model (LLM) called LaMDA. The one used in Google Bard is a lightweight and optimised version of LaMDA, Google says. If you’re wondering, that’s exactly like ChatGPT and GPT 3.5.
Google described the Google Bard tool as an “early experiment” and warns “Bard may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Google’s views.”
In Microsoft’s Bing search engine, the Bing AI chat is directly integrated into the search results. But Google has made this early experiment a separate tool, more like ChatGPT. It can be accessed by visiting bard.google.com and joining the waitlist on the website.
Google plans to bring Bard AI soon to search results; it has commented about the future plans of Bard AI in the blog post, “Bard is a direct interface to an LLM, and we think of it as a complementary experience to Google Search. Bard is designed so that you can easily visit Search to check its responses or explore sources across the web. Click “Google it” to see suggestions for queries, and Search will open in a new tab so you can find relevant results and dig deeper. We’ll also be thoughtfully integrating LLMs into Search in a deeper way — more to come.”
Google Bard isn’t available in India as of now; Google will be expanding to more countries and languages over time.
9to5Google posted the hands-on screenshots of Bard AI; take a look:
Google Bard AI interface looks more or less like ChatGPT, with its bottom box for entering the prompts. There’s also the option for voice inputs for prompts. Then there’s the sidebar which shows the options for Reset chat, Bard Activity, FAQ and Help & Support.
What’s interesting is that, for some prompts, Bard will give you three different drafts, which will be distinct.