Google has launched a dedicated updates page for its Bard AI, teasing that a steady stream of upgrades is headed the chatbot’s way in the future.
Launched in the wake of Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat, Bard is Google’s answer to the AI chatbot fad, but so far it hasn’t really impressed us. In our hands-on Bard review we found that while it includes a number of quality-of-life improvements compared to other chatbots, it’s not the clearest when it comes to citing sources, and generally, its answers don’t seem to be the most accurate.
Some of those issues could soon be solved, however, with Google launching a dedicated Experimental Updates page for the AI service – which suggests that Google has a fair few upgrades heading to the chatbot which it needs to keep users informed about.
The first updates are nothing major – more on those below – but we’ll likely see a mix of big and small changes to the bot as users find, and Google fixes, more flaws in its performance. We’ll have to wait and see what Bard updates Google has in store for us over the coming weeks, months, and further into the future – let’s just hope we don’t see Bard go the same way as the defunct Google Stadia and Google Glass projects if it doesn’t pick up in popularity soon.
The first Bard updates are already here
The Experimental Updates page already has one post detailing the first three upgrades that Google has made to Bard.
The first is the launch of the updates page itself. Google explains that this page will not only help keep Bard users in the loop about updates, but should help users to provide better feedback on tweaks have been made to the AI.
The first proper update is that Bard will now provide more suggested search topics when you click ‘Google it.’ The hope is that this change will make it easier to explore a broader range of topics related to what you’ve been chatting to Bard about.
The other improvement is that Bard is apparently now better at math and logic problems. Google says the AI chatbot should now provide slightly smarter answers to these kinds of prompts, though we’d still recommend double-checking Bard’s math before you rely on its answers, as it’ll probably still make a few mistakes.
Want to check out a few other AI chatbots? Check out our picks for some ChatGPT alternatives.
