The New Bard

3.6K followers

Updated 12 months ago

What is New With Bard?

Google has unveiled several major upgrades to strengthen Bard's capabilities as a versatile AI assistant. Most significantly, Bard can now seamlessly tap into real-time information and services across Google's entire ecosystem, including YouTube, Maps, Flights and Hotels. This integration dramatically expands Bard's knowledge and allows it to provide more comprehensive, up-to-date and tailored responses.

For instance, Bard can now suggest full travel plans by looking up live flight availability, recommending specific hotels, and mapping customized sightseeing routes. Users could ask Bard to outline a trip to Europe, and it would leverage Google's products to propose affordable destinations based on budget, generate an itinerary checking actual airline options and prices, suggest reputable lodging close to top attractions using ratings and reviews from Google Maps and Search, and even provide turn-by-turn walking directions between destinations using Google Maps.

Additionally, with user permission Bard can now summarize key details from Gmail inbox messages and Google Documents. This means Bard could scan your latest work emails and brief you on critical deadlines or action items. It could also review a draft proposal written in Google Docs and give editing advice based on the context and goals you provide.

Connecting Bard to the wealth of data within Google services marks a major step toward making it a centralized, super-powered AI assistant. Tapping into products like YouTube, Maps and Gmail enables more rounded, practical responses tailored to users' unique situations and interests. It hints at Google's ambitions to ultimately incorporate AI across all its offerings.

What is the New Bard Function?

Aside from pulling Google ecosystem data, Google has introduced new functionality directly within Bard to address transparency and accuracy concerns prevalent in AI chatbots. Most prominently, Bard now has a “double check” feature allowing users to instantly compare Bard’s responses against trustworthy Google Search results.

After Bard provides an answer, users can select “double check” to highlight excerpts from the response and display corresponding Google Search findings verifying or contradicting Bard’s claims. This makes it easy to cross-reference whether Bard's statements align with consensus information from across the wider internet.

Essentially, it acts as a built-in fact checking mechanism to identify potential inaccuracies or falsities. Also, it is accessible on both Android and iOS devices.

The double check button provides transparency into how Bard compiles responses, granting users more control over vetting information quality. It also enables users to provide feedback on discrepancies to further improve Bard’s knowledge over time through machine learning. Overall, the feature helps address common qualms around AI chatbots confidently generating false information by letting users instantly verify veracity against Google Search.

Other new capabilities include supporting languages beyond English, options to share Bard conversations for collaborative brainstorming, taking direct actions like sending emails based on Bard’s suggestions, and more. Altogether these updates focus on transforming Bard into a multipurpose AI assistant grounded in accountability.

What are the Improvements to Google Bard?

Key improvements elevating Google Bard include:

• Access to live Google services like Maps, YouTube, Drive and Gmail to enable timely, tailored responses based on users’ personal contexts

• A “double check” feature allowing users to compare Bard’s answers against Google Search to validate accuracy

• Support for non-English languages and abilities to directly act on Bard’s suggestions

• Collaborative sharing of conversations and user feedback mechanisms

Combined, these amount to dramatic leaps forward in Bard's capabilities, transparency and utility as a daily AI assistant. Uniting Bard with Google’s existing matrix of AI technologies provides immense synergistic potential. Letting users instantly fact check responses and supply feedback fosters accountability.

Early testing will be indispensable for honing Bard’s performance and reliability. But connecting it across Google’s offerings while incorporating responsiveness to user guidance sets the stage for an exceptionally versatile and trusted AI agent.

Bard Updates: New Math And Data Visualization Features

Supplementary to the other improvements, Google has equipped Bard with new strengths in explaining mathematical concepts and visualizing data. Specifically, Bard can now provide step-by-step support for solving advanced math problems and generate charts or graphs to represent data findings.

For mathematical guidance, students could inquire complex calculus, statistics or algebra questions and receive structured solutions breaking concepts down sequentially. This interactive clarification reinforces understanding and offers an engaging education supplement.

Additionally, Bard can present data responses in graphical formats like bar charts, line graphs or pie charts upon request. Transforming statistics into visuals makes trends easier to digest. Students might ask Bard to produce visual models of scientific processes, historical events or societal issues as a creativity prompt.

Catering to both logical and graphical learning styles expands Bard’s potential for self-enrichment across STEM subjects. Though mathematical precision requires ongoing perfection, early testing indicates promising possibilities ahead as an academic asset if applied judiciously.

Is ChatGPT better than Google Bard?

Contrasting ChatGPT and Google Bard elicits an intriguing debate amongst AI experts. Most agree ChatGPT currently maintains superiority for eloquent text generation based on its highly advanced GPT-3.5 architecture tuned explicitly on human language. Its responses tend to demonstrate greater coherence, nuance and linguistic polish resembling human skill.

However, Bard builds upon Google’s LaMDA model optimized not for textual prowess but factual accuracy and helpful information provision. This makes Bard better equipped to answer practical real-world questions by tapping into Google’s vast up-to-date data resources. Bard also accounts for user context to tailor responses to individuals’ needs and interests.

In essence, ChatGPT shines where literary flair matters most, while Bard excels at usable problem-solving utility. ChatGPT may craft more creative essays, stories or conceptual explanations, whereas Bard focuses squarely on informative precision. ChatGPT also cannot match Bard’s access to Google’s continuously refreshed data index spanning the entire internet.

So for conversational eloquence and flair ChatGPT currently leads, but Bard shows greater promise assisting research, planning and goal achievement through knowledge rather than linguistic artistry. As Google progresses improving LaMDA and unveiling new Bard features, its prowess may eventually rival even OpenAI’s fine-tuned foundation.

Both technologies still warrant abundant human verification to catch potential factual inaccuracies. But choosing between the imaginative writing polish of ChatGPT and practical real-world applicability of Bard depends largely on use case priorities. It demonstrates cutting edge AI’s tendency to excel either at creativity or functionality, but rarely both simultaneously.

What are some key differences between ChatGPT and Google's Bard AI chatbot?

Boiling it down, core distinctions between ChatGPT and Bard include:

Language Model:

• ChatGPT employs OpenAI's GPT-3.5 architecture focused on human-like text generation

• Bard built on Google's LaMDA model optimized for informative dialogue

Capabilities:

• ChatGPT superior summarizing content, composing stories/essays and explaining concepts eloquently

• Bard better at answering practical questions drawing on real time data

Knowledge:

• ChatGPT trained only up to 2021 so lacks current event awareness

• Bard taps Google's entire internet index for timely information

Integration:

• ChatGPT works independently without external data connections

• Bard accesses other Google services like Maps, YouTube, Drive for richer responses

In essence, ChatGPT leads natural language proficiency while Bard edges out for accuracy and real-world helpfulness. Both still warrant skepticism rather than blind trust.

Bard's Capabilities and Limitations

Google’s extensive Bard upgrades unlock paradigm-shifting potential if applied judiciously. Connecting into Google's vast ecosystem and focus on transparency could enable Bard to become an extraordinarily empowering daily companion.

Yet considerable risks remain if users become over reliant or complacent about verifying veracity. Generative AI still constitutes “an early experiment” requiring abundant caution per Google itself. Safeguarding mechanisms against misinformation and ethical hazards continue evolving.

As with any disruptive new technology, realizing upside while mitigating downside dangers hinges on thoughtful stewardship. Thus far Google demonstrates principally responsible intentions framing Bard as an assistive instrument rather than an unquestionable oracle. Prioritizing user accountability and guidance compatibility may achieve the right equilibrium for constructive rather than deleterious impacts.

If Bard’s remarkable capabilities are nurtured transparently and emphasizing public good over private gain, the possibilities could profoundly enhance knowledge equity worldwide. But the perils of underestimating risks around accuracy and emotional manipulation cannot be overstated either. Avoiding overconfidence and hubris will be critical to ensure empowerment prevails over exploitation.

ChatGPT and Google Bard:

1. Both have strengths and limitations currently. ChatGPT is better at natural language processing while Bard leverages Google's vast knowledge base. I see them as complementary in many ways.

2. The competition should ultimately benefit users. As AI assistants vie for dominance, their creators will rapidly improve capabilities, expand knowledge, and address weaknesses.

3. Responsible development is crucial. As powerful as these tools are becoming, we must ensure they prioritize accuracy, mitigate harmful bias, safeguard privacy, and consider ethics deeply.

4. Widespread literacy about AI strengths and weaknesses is essential. Users should apply critical thinking rather than blindly accept generated text or responses. Education can temper overreliance.

5. Exciting possibilities ahead! Despite current flaws, ChatGPT and Bard represent enormous progress in accessible AI. Linking these assistants to other systems unlocks many promising applications.

6. We must balance opportunity and risk thoughtfully. Reaping AI's benefits without enabling harm will require judicious governance and responsible innovation focused on empowering human potential for good.