Google’s New Virtual Assistant to Include Bard AI Tools

(Bloomberg) -- Google will soon release a version of its virtual assistant that is powered by the company’s Bard artificial intelligence technology, helping users handle more complex tasks.

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The new offering, called Assistant with Bard, will be available in a test phase shortly and then roll out to the general public in the coming months, the company said Wednesday. The release will equip the Assistant, which helps users of Android and Google devices complete tasks and find information, with some of the capabilities of Bard, a chatbot that is the company’s answer to OpenAI’s wildly popular ChatGPT.

“Generative AI is creating new opportunities to build a more intuitive, intelligent, personalized digital assistant,” Sissie Hsiao, a Google vice president, wrote in a blog post accompanying the news.

As tech giants vie to capitalize on AI advancements, Google is infusing its sprawling portfolio of products with the technology. Last month, the division of Alphabet Inc. said it would outfit services like Gmail, Maps, Docs and YouTube with its Bard chatbot.

During a hardware event at Google’s Pier 57 Manhattan office Wednesday, Google devices chief Rick Osterloh also described other ways in which Google is integrating generative AI — tech that can create new media like text and video given simple prompts — into its apps and services. Next year, Osterloh said, the Google Home app will roll out experimental features like summaries of activity around one’s front door and the ability to ask about the status of packages in natural language.

Google Assistant competes with Apple Inc.’s Siri and Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa, and AI capabilities have become a new front in that market. Assistant can be found on the company’s phones, smart speakers, smartwatches and other computers.

--With assistance from Davey Alba.

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