Bard Goes Worldwide: Google Launches its Talking AI chatbot in Europe and South America 

Google just launched its AI chatbot, Bard, in Europe and Brazil, gradually expanding its services across the globe – increasing competition with other chatbots such as ChatGPT. 

The launch also highlighted the introduction of Bard’s new features, including its ability to speak and respond to image-inclusive prompts.

Bard can now talk in over 40 languages and its spoken responses are intended to be a helpful way for users to listen to written texts and correct their pronunciation through correctly enunciating the words. It will soon be available in other languages, according to Google. 

In terms of the new image-prompting feature, users can make AI generated captions and descriptions. In addition to that, users can now share replies with other people and adjust the tone of voice and style for the responses.

When asking the AI itself about its functions and differences to ChatGPT, it answers: “Bard is a factual language model, while ChatGPT is a generative language model. This means that Bard is better at understanding facts and answering questions, while ChatGPT is better at generating creative text formats.”

Bard emphasized on its function as a “factual” language model and being better at understanding “facts and answering questions,” as compared to ChatGPT – Bard surely secured its spot as a tough competitor in the market.

This raises the bar high for generative AI systems as it competes neck-and-neck with ChatGPT since both chatbots contain AI capabilities in responding to questions in a human-like manner.

Due to Google’s giant network, Bard is incredibly accurate and “better” in understanding facts as it is connected to Google search results. 

Previously, Bard’s presence in Europe had been delayed due to data privacy concerns. The Dublin-based Data Protection Commission (DPC) restricted its release and forced Google to revise certain policies. Consequently, the tech giant reassured the DPC on the revision of its transparency and data protection measures.

Now, the data collection is an opt-out field in Bard, so it finally aligns with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

With more and more users all over the world, it will be a neck-and-neck race between ChatGPT, xAI and Bard. Bard’s recent launch showcased its strength in being a factual language model as compared to other models. A tough competition indeed.