Bard, Google's AI collaboration tool, is getting a major update today, adding advanced capabilities and new features to a wider audience, including the ability to create images and more LANGUAGES.
Perhaps the most exciting of the Bard improvements announced today via a
blog post, is the brand new skill that brings it closer to OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus: the ability to create images based on user prompts. While ChatGPT requires a paid subscription to access tools like DALL-E, Bard will now let you do the same for free. This feature is initially available in English in most countries and is powered by Google's updated Imagen 2 template.
The feature is very simple to use: just enter a few words to describe what you want Bard to bring to life and watch him work his magic. If the first results received don't quite match what you had in mind, you can click “Generate more” to get more alternatives and download the ones you like.
Image source – Google
This is very impressive, especially since it is free. However, it is important to note that it is not yet perfect…. In my testing, I tried having Bard generate an image for me based on a person's physical description. Bard quickly replied that he wasn't able to do that yet.
Error message returned by Bard when asked to create an image based on human physical characteristics
Additionally, Google states that in order to remain consistent with the company's AI principles for image generation, all images generated by Bard will use
Synthesizer ID to embed a digital watermark in the results. This watermark is not detectable to the human eye, but can be scanned for identification.
But that's not all Bard is getting today: previously only available in English, the enhanced version of Gemini Pro in Bard is now available in over 40 languages and 230 countries and territories. This expansion makes Bard a more inclusive and accessible platform for people around the world.
True to the spirit of this new multilingual Bard, even its double-check feature will now be available in over 40 languages. You can access it by clicking the “G” icon that appears below the response to your prompt and checking the information against what's on the web.
These upgrades are definitive improvements to Bard's accessibility and capabilities. The free addition of an image generation tool, along with its multilingual support, makes it a more useful and adaptable tool for creative projects, daily activities and checking information on a global scale.
