Bard's Latest Updates Allow Fact-Checking, Integration With Google Apps

By
Fatima Attarwala
Fatima Attarwala
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Fatima Attarwala is a business news writer and editor with a decade of experience researching, analyzing, and commenting on issues influencing the economy.
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Published September 19, 2023
Hand holding a smartphone with the Google Bard logo on screenn

Nikos Pekiaridis / NurPhoto / Getty Images

Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL) on Tuesday released a more intuitive version of its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Bard that allows users to pull real-time information across a suite of Google apps and to fact-check it, along with other updates.

Key Takeaways

  • Google rolled out new features to in an attempt to make its AI chatbot Bard more valuable in everyday life and to rival counter ChatGPT's popularity.
  • Bard now can be integrated across the Google apps suite, to make search within Google Docs or Gmail smarter.
  • A new Google Search button feature is aimed at increasing the credibility of Bard-generated responses.
  • Other users can be invited into Bard conversations in the new version of the software.

Bard hasn't been able to catch up to Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT, which took the A.I. world by storm starting in late 2022. ChatGPT had 1.8 billion worldwide visits in May compared with Google Bard's 142.6 million visits.

Google has enhanced Bard's abilities in hopes of catching up to ChatGPT. The latest Bard updates allow users to import data from other Google apps, such as asking Bard to summarize PDFs from Google Docs. However, Bard can only access personal content across Google Workspace with user permission.

Previously, the responses were limited to text or photos from Google Images, but the latest updates allow, for example, YouTube video links and summaries of long, complex emails. But Bard users can't pull information out of non-Google apps yet. However, Google is working on syncing with products of other companies in the future, the tech giant's senior product director, Jack Krawczyk, said.

Large language models (LLMs) are prone to "hallucinations." This inherent problem arises from A.I. chatbots' ability to process large amounts of data without being able to tell what is factual and what isn't. Another new feature in this release, the Google button, can help assess Bard's statements using Google Search and hence should increase the credibility of replies.

If a user clicks on the new "Google it" button next to a Bard answer, Bard will check "if there is content across the web to substantiate" its response and the company said it will give that breakdown with applicable links.

The updated version of Bard can also allow other invited users into conversations.

Through these measures, Google hopes to find ways to make Bard more relevant and assess the most popular aspects of the offering that people will eventually be willing to pay for to use generative A.I.

Google was down approximately 1% in mid-day trading on Tuesday.

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  1. Bard. "Experiment Updates."

  2. Similarweb. "As ChatGPT Growth Flattened in May, Google Bard Rose 187%."

  3. The Washington Post. "Google’s Bard Can Now Read Emails as Company Tries To Show It’s Useful."

  4. Reuters. "Google Announces New Bard Features as Traffic Continues To Lag ChatGPT."

  5. The Washington Post. "ChatGPT ‘Hallucinates.’ Some Researchers Worry It Isn’t Fixable."

  6. Axios. "Google's Bard Launches Fact-Check Features as AI Race Continues."

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