Google Bard finally arrives in EU with ability to talk
The EU region has been absent from the list of countries where Google Bard is available for a while. The company has finally rectified this. Google's AI chatbot has arrived in the EU. On top of that, the tech giant has added a slew of new features to the chatbot, including support for more languages and the ability to talk.
Why does this story matter?
Bard's entry into the EU has been a major hurdle for Google. The company rolled out Bard globally in May. The ChatGPT rival was available in around 180 countries. However, not a single EU country was present on that list. The company initially stayed away from the region due to how privacy regulators targeted ChatGPT. Google's effort to launch it later was blocked.
Irish DPC delayed EU launch due to privacy concerns
Bard was supposed to make its EU entry in June. However, it was forced to postpone that due to concerns raised by the Irish data regulator. The Irish Data Protection Commission said Google did not provide it with enough information to address privacy concerns. It seems Google has managed to provide the privacy watchdog with what it was looking for.
Bard supports 40 new languages
Google has increased the number of languages Bard supports. The chatbot is now available in 40 more languages, including Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi, and Spanish. Alongside the EU, Bard is also now available in Brazil.
Users can change Bard's tone and style
The company has introduced some features to improve Bard's responses. For starters, if users want to hear a word or a poem in Bard's voice, they can enter a prompt and select the sound icon. Users also have the option to choose the tone and style of Bard's response. There are five options, including simple, long, short, professional, or casual.
Bard allows pinning and renaming conversations
The inability to revisit prompts has been one of the major criticisms against the chatbot. Google has finally addressed that. Users can pin and rename conversations now. People can also share Bard's responses with friends through shareable links. Additionally, the company has finally rolled out the much-awaited image prompts feature. Bard can analyze images now. Users can also export Python code to Replit.
