Those who have been closely monitoring the artificial intelligence scene worldwide will know of Google Bard. Based on a bite-sized version of the company’s language model LaMDA, Bard is an experimental conversational AI service. Long been hoped to rival bots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing AI, Bard AI has unfortunately been out of public hands. However, that changes today, as Google has officially opened access to Bard AI in selected countries. Keep reading to find out all the details, including available locations.
Google Bard Focuses on Feedback and Safety
Google’s Bard early access follows the company’s AI-related announcements last week wherein Google also discussed Google AI’s inclusion in Workspace. Google’s decision to open Bard is driven by the need to get detailed feedback from more people for training and general trial and error. Google announced the same in a fresh AI blog post.
The company has also reiterated its promise to focus on quality and safety. As such, Google is using human feedback and evaluation to improve its systems. Furthermore, to prevent misuse and spam, Bard has also been built with guardrails such as capping the maximum number of exchanges in a dialogue. This is a welcome move as the dangers of AI unintentionally spreading misinformation or being misused itself are well documented.
How to Sign up for Google Bard AI Right Now
Starting today, Google has opened up early access to Bard AI through a waitlist. Netizens can head over to the Bard official website and simply click the “Join waitlist” button.
There are a few caveats, though. One, you cannot sign up for Bard AI early access using a Google Workspace account. Second, Bard AI has limited availability to boot. It’s worth mentioning that Bard early access is currently only available in the US and the UK. You might need to use VPN apps to access the website and join the waitlist in unsupported locations. However, the company has promised to expand support to more countries and languages over time.
Bard’s release while limited is a very exciting moment for the AI community. Many have been waiting with bated breath to see just how well the Silicon Valley giant’s bot fares against OpenAI’s ChatGPT. We only hope Bard AI is released globally soon, so we can test this ChatGPT alternative and pit it against Bing AI and GPT-4 right away.
