As traffic continues to lag ChatGPT, Google announces new Bard features !

As the tech giant tries to overtake ChatGPT in popularity, Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL.O) Google announced on Tuesday that Bard, its generative artificial intelligence, will be able to fact-check its answers and analyze users' personal Google data.

 

There has been a race in the tech sector to provide consumers with access to generative AI technology since the release of ChatGPT, a chatbot from Microsoft-backed OpenAI (MSFT.O) last year. ChatGPT, which is currently among the top 30 websites worldwide, was the consumer application with the fastest growth rate ever at the time.

Bard has not taken off in the same way. In August, it received 183 million visits, 13% of what ChatGPT received, according to website analytics firm Similarweb.

As it seeks to gain ground in the fast-moving AI space, Google is rolling out Bard Extensions, enabling users to import their data from other Google products. For instance, users could ask Bard to search their files in Google Drive or provide a summary of the user’s Gmail inbox. For now, Bard users will only be able to pull information in from Google apps, but Google is working with external companies to connect their applications into Bard in the future, Google senior product director Jack Krawczyk said.

Another new feature in Bard seeks to alleviate a nagging problem for generative AI: inaccurate responses known as “hallucinations”. Bard users will be able to see which parts of Bard’s answers differ from and agree with Google search results.

“We are presenting (Bard) in a way that it admits when it's not confident,” Krawczyk said, explaining that the intention is to build users’ trust in generative AI through holding Bard accountable.

A third new feature allows users to invite others into Bard conversations.