As other AI platforms like Bing and ChatGPT have already made generative AI widely available, Google is now joining the fray by opening up access to its Bard AI. Starting today, users can sign up for access to this latest Google experiment, and it’s safe to assume that the waitlist is already quite extensive. If you’re in need of an AI chatbot to talk to in your life, adding your name to the list might be worth a shot.
In a recent blog post on The Keyword, Google announced the limited release of Bard in select regions. While not the official public launch, interested users can gain early access by signing up on a waitlist. During this period, individuals who make it through the waitlist will be able to utilize Bard’s large language model (LLM), which operates similarly to ChatGPT, by providing prompts to generate responses. These responses could encompass a wide range of activities such as answering questions, simplifying complex topics, generating ideas and outlines, and more.
Google’s newly launched AI language model, Bard, is currently being rolled out gradually, and there is no specific date set for its public release. Like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing chatbot, Bard provides users with a blank text box to ask any question they desire.
A couple of days ago, Google provided early access to its AI language model, Bard, to a select group of Pixel Superfans. This move appears to be part of Google’s strategy to test and refine the system with a limited group of users before opening it up to a wider audience.
Google is emphasizing that Bard is not a final product but an experiment, but rather an additional tool to complement it. Users can use Bard to brainstorm ideas, create writing drafts, or engage in a chat about any topic. In a blog post by two of the project’s leads, Sissie Hsiao and Eli Collins, they describe Bard as “an early experiment intended to help people boost their productivity, accelerate their ideas, and fuel their curiosity.” They also refer to Bard as a tool that enables users to “collaborate with generative AI” (emphasis added), suggesting that Google is taking measures to limit its responsibility for any future issues that may arise.
Google is upfront about Bard’s limitations, cautioning that “Bard will not always get it right.” The company readily acknowledges and addresses errors, as demonstrated by several examples mentioned in the blog post. For instance, Bard provided the wrong scientific name for a plant species when prompted about indoor plants. While Google has implemented “guardrails” to prevent these kinds of mistakes, it’s clear that the technology is still a work in progress.
By clicking “view other drafts,” users will be able to see multiple versions of the same response generated by Bard. While the AI model can create new responses to the same question like ChatGPT and other similar models, Google has allowed its users to view up to three of those responses without asking the question again.
At present, it seems that Bard doesn’t display sources as prominently as Bing’s chat feature. Additionally, there is a limit to the number of exchanges in a conversation, as Google notes in its post, and it is asking users to rate responses and report anything that may be inappropriate or harmful.
Google Bard, the latest AI experiment by Google, is now available for early access in the United States and the United Kingdom in English. Google confirmed that it will expand access to other countries and languages over time. Google also plans to improve Bard and add capabilities such as coding, more languages, and multimodal experiences based on user feedback.
Users can sign up for early access to Bard on its website at bard.google.com.
Here’s another example of how a response from Bard might appear:
Source: Google