Google drops the waitlist for its Bard AI
Users interested in Google Bard, the company's AI chatbot and answer to Microsoft Bing Chat, had to join a waitlist to eventually gain access to Bard. Yesterday, Google announced that the days of the waitlist are over. Users from over 180 countries and regions may start using Bard right away, provided that they sign-in with a Google account and accept the terms of use.
Google Bard is not available in some countries, including in countries from the European Union. It is possible to use a VPN to access Bard from these countries though, as the check that Google performs is basic.
Google announced that the unlocked Bard is powered by the company's newest Large Language Model, PaLM 2, which it says is more capable than the model that Bard was launched with two months ago.
Google launched Bard shortly after Microsoft came out guns blazing with its ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat AI. Microsoft integrated Bing Chat into its Bing Search engine and recently crossed the 100 million daily user mark. Bing Chat has had its issues as well, and Microsoft had to adjust access several times by restricting interactions with the chatbot.
Google's Bard was not off to a good start either. It gave an incorrect answer during a Google presentation of it and the waitlist kept many users from playing around with it more.
Google has worked on Bard and it appears that the company is now confident enough in the capabilities of its chatbot to open it up for a larger audience.
Google users interested in trying out Bard may visit the official Bard website to get started. A sign-in to a Google account is required, and Google Work accounts may not be unlocked for Bard yet.
Bard works very similarly to Bing Chat. You type a query and wait for Bard to respond to it. Bard, like Bing Chat, have disclaimers that the information provided by the AI may be incorrect at times or even offensive.
As is the case with all current AI models, it may sometimes be necessary to verify the provided information.
Now You: have you tried Google Bard?
