Summary
- Google’s chatbot, Bard, now has image-generation capabilities, allowing users to easily bring their imagination to life by creating unique images in seconds without complex software.
- Bard with the upgraded Gemini Pro backend will soon be available in over 230 countries and territories, spanning more than 40 languages, making it far more capable at understanding, summarizing, reasoning, brainstorming, writing, and planning.
- The double-check feature in Bard is being expanded to more languages, enabling users to evaluate Bard’s responses in their learning journeys more effectively. These updates show that Google is going all-in on Gemini and making significant progress in its AI efforts.
Google found itself behind the eight-ball when ChatGPT took the world by storm after GPT-3.5 debuted in late 2022. The Mountain View company had previously been seen as the runaway leader in the AI space, but it spent the majority of 2023 playing catch-up to OpenAI and its do-it-all chatbot. Google Bard debuted as a direct competitor to ChatGPT in March 2023, but there was a clear gulf between the two tools in terms of capability. That gap narrowed drastically when Bard’s backend was upgraded to Google’s new Gemini multimodal AI platform in December 2023, and today, the chatbot is making another leap forward.
Google announced two major changes that are rolling out to Bard today: the chatbot now has image-generation capabilities, and Bard with the upgraded Gemini Pro backend will soon be available in over 230 countries and territories, spanning more than 40 languages. Bard’s latest changelog offers a few more details, including the fact that Bard’s double-check feature is being expanded to more languages:
- What: You can create captivating images for work, play, and anything in between with Bard. It’s easy to use – simply enter a few words to bring your imagination to life, starting with English prompts. Click ‘Generate more’ for more options and download the ones you like. Learn more.
- Why: Sometimes you might have a picture in mind and now you can easily bring that to life. Create totally unique images in seconds without having to learn complex software.
Bard with Gemini Pro is coming to more languages
- What: Bard with Gemini Pro is coming worldwide to all languages where Bard is available. With this upgrade, Bard will be far more capable at things like understanding, summarizing, reasoning, brainstorming, writing and planning.
- Why: With Gemini Pro, you can discover new ways to create, interact and collaborate with Bard.
Double-check coming to more languages
- What: Double-check is now available for Bard responses in most supported languages.
- Why: We’re working to enable the double-check feature in additional languages to help more users evaluate Bard’s responses in their learning journeys.
Bard’s new image-generation capabilities are powered by Google’s Imagen 2, a product of the company’s DeepMind division that enables text-to-image diffusion capabilities akin to tools like DALL-E 3 and Stable Diffusion. Being able to easily generate images in Bard should greatly improve the chatbot’s usefulness and fun-factor.
Sadly, users in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the UK, will not be able to use these new image generation capabilities to start. On its help page, Google also notes that users under the age of 18 will also be unable to access the feature.
If you get the sense that Google’s going all-in on Gemini with its recent moves, you’re not alone — reports have emerged in the past week that Google’s rumored Assistant with Bard feature, reportedly planned as a drop-in replacement for the Google Assistant on mobile devices, could simply be called Gemini when it ultimately rolls out. Just today, another report has suggested that Google Bard itself — regardless of platform — could soon be rebranded to Google Gemini in a unifying move.
Google may rename all of Bard to Gemini
Gemini could be the new name for both Bard and Assistant with Bard
Google’s AI efforts are certainly picking up steam in recent months. Whether the company can fully close that gap with ChatGPT — both in terms of actual functionality and public mindshare — remains to be seen, but moves like what we’re seeing today should go a long way towards achieving that goal.
Thanks: Ibrahim
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