During their Live from Paris event in February 2023, Google announced its latest tool — an AI chatbot with the potential to surpass the expectations of ChatGPT.
Just one month later, Google released the anxiously awaited tool called Bard. So what exactly is Google Bard and how does it work?
What Is Google Bard?
Google Bard is an artificial intelligence chatbot, similar to ChatGPT, that uses Google’s internet data, rather than internet pages, to provide users with fast text responses to their questions.
It’s powered by LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) — Google’s language model for dialogue applications. Up until now, this has been a closed BETA technology. LaMDA was trained on human dialogue and stories, allowing it to engage in open-ended conversations for Bard.
Despite all the buzz around AI tools, Bard’s rollout has been slow, with only a select few users able to access it in its experimental stages. Why? Google wants to ensure it’s able to test the product for usefulness and accuracy and address any flaws quickly.
To cover all its bases, Google has warned that Bard could have limitations in its early stages. Google suggests that Bard users keep the following in mind:
- Don’t rely on Bard’s responses as medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.
- Bard’s responses don’t represent Google’s views and should not be attributed to Google.
- Bard may give inaccurate or inappropriate information. Your feedback makes Bard more helpful and safe.
When using Bard, users will even see a pop-up disclaimer notifying them of this.
How Does Google Bard Work?
Bard will provide users with text responses by leveraging the entire Google database in order to provide the most accurate information to various questions. Google’s access to everything on the internet will make it the tool to beat in the AI chatbot space. If Google is the tortoise and ChatGPT is the hare, Google will likely have the capabilities to surpass ChatGPT despite it being released later.
In addition to having more access to data than ChatGPT, Google’s Bard uses less computing power, making it a more efficient and user-friendly option.
How to Use Google Bard
To use Bard, you’ll first need to gain access to the tool. Since only a few users currently have access to the Bard Experiment during these initial rollout stages, you’ll need to join the waitlist on the Google Bard homepage.
Once you have the tool, you can use the chat to begin a conversation and receive quick, high-quality responses. Say you want a new song written in the style of Taylor Swift. Type that into Bard, and the tool will deliver those song lyrics to you.
Don’t need a new song? How about a curated Tweet to promote your latest blog post? No problem. Bard will write it for you. Users will also be able to collaborate in real time and use Bard to ask questions, get answers to math problems, analyze data, brainstorm ideas, and translate words to different languages.
Within the tool, you’ll be able to:
- Edit responses
- Edit the prompt
- View other drafts
- Manage your conversation by resetting the chat or searching for topics related to the response
Once Bard delivers answers in text format, you’ll be able to copy it out of the chatbot for personal use.
Note: Users will have an option to either store activity or reset their queries after each use. However, Bard's responses generated will not be saved! In other words, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
Pros and Cons of Bard
Like any tool, there will be advantages and disadvantages. Although there is still a lot to learn about Bard’s use cases, here’s our early verdict.
Pros:
- Google has the majority of the search marketing, giving it access to tons of data
- Fast response time
- Welcoming interface with a speak option
- Easy to use
- Ability to copy and paste Bard’s response
Cons:
- Doesn’t show sources
- Factual errors are possible
- Unable to save responses or view response history
A Word to the Wise…
Bard sounds pretty great, right? What could possibly go wrong? While big tech is eager to dive right into all things AI, we’d recommend proceeding with caution, especially when it comes to content creation.
An issue with chatbots is that they can be biased and discriminatory and spread misinformation, and when it comes to content, trustworthiness is king. Bard may present false information with its lack of experts or thought leaders who would otherwise typically be able to weigh in on a topic.
Bard will also lack human-first narratives — where sometimes a user might need information or understanding that comes from human experiences and go beyond what a robot could provide.
While Bard has several beneficial use cases, especially when it comes to content marketing, it’s still in its experimental phases. You may not be able to use it to automate your brand’s content creation without errors quite yet.
However, if you’re looking for best-in-class content creation, you’ve come to the right place. Our team at First Page Strategy actually has eyes, ears, and content-focused brains that won’t automate your content strategy but will personalize it.
Ready to talk? Reach out to our experts today.
