Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is expanding the reach of its artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard launches in Europe and Brazil, marking its largest expansion since its initial launch in the United States and the United Kingdom back in March. This move intensifies the competition with Microsoft’s ChatGPT, as both chatbots utilize generative AI to respond to questions in a human-like manner.
Bard launches in Europe had faced delays due to privacy concerns.
Bard’s launch in the European union had faced delays and privacy concerns raised by the bloc’s primary data regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commission. The commission expressed dissatisfaction with the information provided by Google regarding the privacy protection measures of its generative AI tool, deeming it insufficient for an EU launch. Following discussions with the regulatory body, Google claims to have addressed concerns related to transparency, choice, and control, and has met the requirements set forth.
Amar Subramanya, the engineering vice president of Bard, emphasized during a briefing with journalists that users have the option to opt out of data collection. While Subramanya did not comment on potential plans for a Bard app, he described Bard as an experiment, highlighting Google’s commitment to being bold and responsible.
In addition to expanding its availability, Google has introduced new features to Bard, applicable globally. These include the chatbot’s ability to vocalize its responses and respond to prompts that incorporate images. Users now have the option to collaborate with Bard in over 40 languages and can alter the tone and style of its responses, choosing from options like simple, long, short, professional, or casual. Other added features allow users to pin or rename conversations, export code to various platforms, and use images in prompts.
The growing hype around generative AI capabilities has prompted calls for caution and regulation from notable figures in the tech industry.
Opinions on AI range from it being a potential threat to humanity to a solution for global issues like climate change. Over the past six months, companies have invested billions in the development of generative AI, seeking to capitalize on advertising and cloud revenue opportunities.
Several startups and established companies have entered the AI space, including Mistral AI, which secured £86 million in seed funding to develop and train large language models within a month of its inception. Elon Musk also recently announced the formation of xAI, an AI startup with a team comprising engineers from OpenAI and Google. Musk has previously advocated for a pause in AI development and emphasized the need for regulation in the sector.
Meanwhile, American AI company Anthropic introduced a rival chatbot named Claude 2, which competes with ChatGPT. Claude 2 specializes in summarizing lengthy blocks of text and is publicly available in the US and the UK. The company utilizes a safety method called “Constitutional AI,” employing a set of principles to make judgments about the text it produces.
However, recent web user data indicates that the novelty appeal of AI chatbots may be diminishing. Monthly traffic to ChatGPT’s website and the number of unique visitors experienced a decline for the first time in June. As the AI chatbot landscape continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how Bard and its competitors will fare in capturing and maintaining user interest.
