Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has announced the expansion of its artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard, into Europe and Brazil, marking its largest rollout since its launch in February.
This expansion puts Bard in direct competition with ChatGPT, a rival backed by Microsoft. Both chatbots utilize generative artificial intelligence to engage in human-like conversations and provide responses to various prompts. The emergence of these products has garnered global attention while also eliciting a sense of caution.
Numerous companies have invested significant resources in the AI field, aiming to generate substantial revenue through advertising and cloud services. This week, billionaire Elon Musk unveiled his long-awaited AI startup, xAI, which includes former engineers from Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI among its team members.
Google has introduced new features to Bard that are available worldwide. Users can now interact with Bard in over 40 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi, and Spanish. Additionally, users have the ability to customize Bard’s responses by adjusting the tone and style to be simple, long, short, professional, or casual. Other enhancements include the option to pin or rename conversations, export code to various platforms, and incorporate images into prompts.
Bard’s launch in the European Union faced delays due to concerns raised by local privacy regulators. However, Google has since addressed these concerns by engaging with watchdogs and emphasizing transparency, choice, and control over user data. During a briefing, Amar Subramanya, Engineering Vice President of Bard, mentioned that users can opt out of data collection.
Google is facing a new class-action lawsuit in the United States, alleging the misuse of personal information for training its AI system. When asked about the potential development of a Bard app, Subramanya declined to comment, emphasizing that Bard is an experiment and highlighting the company’s commitment to being both bold and responsible.
However, recent data indicates that the novelty appeal of AI chatbots may be declining. Web user numbers for ChatGPT’s website showed a decrease in monthly traffic and unique visitors in June for the first time. It remains to be seen how the competition between Bard and ChatGPT will unfold as they continue to evolve and offer new features in the growing AI chatbot market.
