Google Bard Adds Features, 40 Languages, and EU Availability

When Synthedia enumerated the top 20 announcements about Google Bard from the 2023 I/O developer conference, the second item referenced its availability in 180 non-EU countries. In other words, Bard rolled out worldwide except for mainland Europe, Brazil, and a handful of other places.

Why the omission? It was likely an issue of compliance risk. At that stage, Google knew or suspected some aspect of Bard’s functionality, data use, or security was likely to draw regulatory action by one or more EU nations. That risk must have been mitigated or eliminated.

Earlier today, Google announced several new features, support for 40 languages, and availability in Europe. According to the announcement:

Today we’re announcing Bard’s biggest expansion to date. It’s now available in most of the world, and in the most widely spoken languages. And we’re launching new features to help you better customize your experience, boost your creativity and get more done.

Starting today, you can collaborate with Bard in over 40 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi and Spanish. You can also now access Bard in more places, including Brazil and across Europe.

Image Prompts Are Here

Maybe the most notable new feature is the introduction of image recognition in prompts. It can identify objects in an image and use that as context for the input prompt. Allen Firstenberg showed an interesting example on LinkedIn of a squirrel near a tree and the story Bard created about it. I got an even more sophisticated response based on a Star Wars film image.

You can also ask Bard about an image. This is where the Google Lens feature comes into play. I was able to upload two different images of Formula 1 cars, and it correctly identified one as being a real-work Grand Prix race (though it did not say which one) and the other as from the F1 22 video game.

Bard also correctly identified Van Gogh’s Starry Night and offered some background facts about its meaning and history. We will need to see how the accuracy plays out over time, but it is intriguing to think we can use Bard to tell us additional information about images.

One thing Bard cannot (or maybe will not) do today is process and respond to prompts with images of humans.

Other New Features

Google also announced other new features, such as audio responses, customized response styles, conversation history management, and conversation sharing.

• Listen to responses: Sometimes hearing something out loud can help you approach your idea in a different way. That’s why, starting today, you can listen to Bard’s responses. This is especially helpful if you want to hear the correct pronunciation of a word or listen to a poem or script. Simply enter a prompt and select the sound icon to hear Bard’s answers. This feature is now live in over 40 languages.

• Easily adjust Bard’s responses: You can now change the tone and style of Bard's responses to five different options: simple, long, short, professional or casual. For example, you can ask Bard to help you write a marketplace listing for a vintage armchair, and then shorten the response using the drop-down. This feature is live in English and will expand to new languages soon.

• Pin and rename conversations: We’ve heard you want to be able to revisit prompts, so we’re adding new ways to pin and rename your conversations with Bard. Now when you start a conversation, you’ll see options to pin, rename and pick up recent conversations in the sidebar. For example, if you ask Bard to help you compare outdoor sports for the summer, you can revisit the tips later. This feature is now live in over 40 languages.

• Share responses with friends: We've also made it easier to share part or all of your Bard chat with your network. With shareable links, you can share your ideas and creations with others. This feature is live in over 40 languages.

Google was caught off guard by the quality of ChatGPT and its rapid adoption. Although the company had a few missteps responding to the changing generative AI competitive landscape in early 2023 and the moves by OpenAI and Microsoft, it seems to have righted the ship. These feature additions and expansion to more countries and languages suggest there was truth to what we knew all along: Google is bound to be formidable in generative AI.

The next step for Google Bard is to work on its accuracy and source citations.