Google Bard’s biggest AI upgrade so far sees it close the gap on ChatGPT
Google Bard gets a huge performance boost as it is now powered by the company's “most capable AI model”, Gemini.
This news may come as a surprise as recent reports circulated claiming that Gemini's launch was delayed due to poor performance in multiple languages. But now it turns out Google felt the pressure to increase the release from its long-awaited (and possibly worthy) ChatGPT rival.
Gemini is available in three different “sizes”; However, we're only going to focus on the two more powerful versions, Pro and Ultra, as they directly affect Bard. According to the company, the former can handle a wide range of tasks. It is the all-rounder that will be present on other Google platforms. It is important to mention that the company has refined Gemini Pro on Bard, making the AI better able to perform certain actions such as understanding directions, summarizing content, planning things and reasoning.
The technology giant conducted scientific research in a demonstration YouTuber Mark Rober try the updated Bard. He asked the AI to come up with “the most accurate paper airplane,” which then produced a number of different designs and optimizations. The video aims to show how Bard can now play a bigger role in the creative process.
Availability
Bard with Gemini Pro is available starting today in English in more than 170 countries and territories. A full list of supporting countries can be found at Google help website. At the time of writing this article, you can only enter text prompts, although there are plans to implement other “modalities” soon. Yet we do not yet know what those modalities will be. Additionally, Google plans to expand the AI's reach to Europe (users on the continent currently have no access) and expand language support.
Early next year, Bard will see another upgrade where we will see Google install its Gemini Ultra model on the AI. This is the top version specifically designed to perform “very complex tasks” and accept multimodal input such as text, video and even code. Google explains that Ultra will “think more carefully before answering” tough questions because it has better reasoning skills.
Right now the company is doing some security checks to make sure the upgrade is as good as possible. When it comes out, the new version will be called Bard Advanced.
It's not known exactly when the new Bard will launch, but Google will soon release a tester program for a select group of users. We've reached out to Google to ask when and how people can join this tester program. This story will be updated at a later date.
Until then, check out Ny Breaking's list of the best AI writers for 2023.