Google Bard is getting its first significant round of updates since its very shaky launch, and I’m incredibly hyped to see what’s in store. In the official post from Google, the outlined updates, which will arrive on April 21, have been listed as performance improvements and adding variety to Bard's responses, hopefully improving the user experience and beefing up Bard’s skeletal build.
Most of the updates include expanding draft variety and Bard’s capabilities. Bard will now show you a wider range of options that will be more distinct from each other when showing drafts to help “expand your creative explorations”.
Underneath the “inaugural experiment update” Google explains how it’s launched an ‘Experiment Updates’ page that it will use to post the latest features, bug fixes and improvements so people will have an easy place to see updates and test them out.
We will also be getting a richer ‘Google it’ feature where additional suggestion topics will pop up when people click the option, and we’ll see an improvement in Google Bard’s capabilities for math and logic. This is an incredibly positive addition as it could mean a step up in Bard’s more technical capabilities and hopefully see it get closer to the coding abilities offered by ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing.
Analysis: Onward and upward
I am extremely excited to see Bard get its inaugural update and see it as a step in the right direction for the AI chatbot. As chatbots go, Bard is my favorite due to its friendly demeanour, easy-to-use interface and general good vibes. I think Bard has the chance to match up to, if not surpass, Microsoft Bing if Google plays its cards right and gives it a big push.
As it stands Microsoft's Bing AI has an estimated 100 million active users, and the company recently boasted about a 15.8% boost in page visits, which does suggest a potential stream of users being pulled away from Google in terms of search engine dominance. However, if Google continues to deliver a steady but strong stream of updates and feature enhancements, I do think it could clinch back any lost users. It certainly hasn't lost me yet.
Just because Microsoft got to the AI hype first doesn’t mean it’s won the race yet. I think Google has time to blow us all away, and I can’t wait to see how far Bard can go.
