Google launches Bard, their AI chatbot, across Europe and Brazil to compete with Microsoft-backed ChatGPT

On Thursday, Alphabet announced the introduction of its artificial-intelligence chatbot, Bard, throughout Europe and Brazil, marking the product's largest expansion since its February launch and pitting it against Microsoft-backed competition ChatGPT.

Bard and ChatGPT are human-sounding programmes that employ generative artificial intelligence to converse with users and respond to a variety of cues. The goods have sparked global interest, but with caution.

Companies have leapt on the AI bandwagon, investing billions in the anticipation of generating significantly more money from advertising and cloud services. Elon Musk, the billionaire, also launched his long-teased artificial-intelligence business xAI earlier this week, with a staff that includes numerous former engineers from Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

Google has also updated Bard with new features that are available globally.

"Starting today, you can collaborate with Bard in over 40 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi, and Spanish," said Google senior product director Jack Krawczyk in a blog post.

"Hearing something out loud might sometimes help you approach your concept in a fresh manner... This is extremely useful if you want to hear how to pronounce a word correctly or listen to a poem or script."

Users may now adjust the tone and manner of Bard's comments to basic, long, short, professional, or informal, according to him. They have the ability to pin or rename chats, export code to additional locations, and include graphics in prompts.

Local privacy authorities had delayed Bard's introduction in the EU. Krawczyk stated that Google has subsequently met with the watchdogs to reassure them on topics of openness, choice, and control.

In a press conference, Amar Subramanya, Bard's technical vice president, said that customers may opt out of having their data collected.

Google has been struck with a new class action lawsuit in the United States for allegedly misusing users' personal information to train its artificial intelligence system.

Subramanya declined to comment on whether a Bard app was in the works.

"Bard is an experiment," he said further. "We want to be bold and responsible."

Nonetheless, novelty may be fading, as recent Web user statistics reveal that monthly traffic to ChatGPT's website and unique visitors fell for the first time ever in June.