Google Revolutionizes User Experience by Extending Bard, Its AI Chatbot, to Gmail, Drive, and YouTube Applications

In a recent Tuesday announcement, Google stated that it has incorporated its AI chatbot, Bard, into various applications, including YouTube, Gmail, and Drive, Intensifying AI Competition with OpenAI. The AI rivalry between Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, continues to escalate.

Leading Facts

1. On Tuesday, Yury Pinsky, Bard’s Director of Product Development, announced the integration of the AI chatbot Bard, using “Bard Extensions,” into Google applications such as Gmail, YouTube, and Docs, enabling users to collaborate with the chatbot while utilizing these services.
2. Pinsky revealed Bard’s ability to access multiple applications simultaneously through a single conversation, citing an example of a user planning a trip where Bard could check Gmail for favorable dates, gather flight and hotel information, consult Maps for airport directions, and recommend relevant videos on YouTube.
3. Introducing a feature allowing multiple users to participate in the same Bard chat using a single link will enable each user to make additional inquiries.
4. Bard is now introducing a “Google it” button to assist users in verifying answers provided by the chatbot, indicating whether responses are consistent with information found on other online sources.
5. According to Similarweb, a data analysis firm, Bard recorded nearly 200 million desktop and mobile web visits in August, compared to the 200 million visits recorded by OpenAI’s ChatGPT in the same month.

   

6. The launch of Bard Extensions comes nearly six months after OpenAI introduced ChatGPT plug-ins, which grant the chatbot access to updated information and third-party services from applications like Expedia, OpenTable, and Instacart.
7. In March, Google unveiled its Bard chatbot amid the race by other tech companies to develop similar A.I. chatbots after the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI – backed by Google’s rival, Microsoft.
8. In May, Google integrated Bard into its search engine to expand its usage across Google products, following the incorporation of technology akin to ChatGPT into Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, in February.
9. Jack Krawczyk, Google’s Product Lead for Bard, told the New York Times that the still-experimental chatbot is in its “early days” and possesses “profound capabilities.”
10. After OpenAI warned that A.I. chatbots could “hallucinate” facts or generate incorrect information, Google’s decision to incorporate a “Google it” feature in Bard’s responses addresses concerns about the accuracy of data produced by the chatbot.

Essential Quote

Krawczyk shared with the Times that the company is “committed to making Bard more trustworthy by not only showing the confidence of our response but admitting when we make a mistake.”