Google Assistant to get AI capabilities with Bard

Google Assistant is expected to get an AI-powered update with Google Bard integration for mobile devices. The announcement made at the Made By Google live event, introduced the new AI assistant which can now give more intelligent and informed answers.

Google Bard integration into the personal assistant will open up a whole range of new features that users will now be able to dive into, like using the Google apps for personalised responses. The recent Bard update in September has enabled the integration with Google’s own apps and services, including Gmail, Docs, Drive, Maps, YouTube and Google Flights and hotels, through “Bard extensions.”

Google believes the AI personal assistant will be able to write emails, dig up important emails or scheduled meetings in your inbox, acheive tasks like trip planning, creating a grocery list or writing a caption for social media.

“Google Assistant, over the past seven years, has been helping hundreds of millions of people get things done through natural and conversational methods. So things like setting alarms, asking for the weather, or making quick calls using a simple ‘Hey, Google.’ And now with generative AI coming there are new opportunities to deliver an even more intelligent, more personalized, more intuitive digital assistant. And we think it should extend beyond voice," says Sissie Hsiao, vice president of Google Bard and Assistant.

In a major leap for the company, Google Assistant with Bard will allow users to interact in three ways; ask questions and follow-ups, type in the queries, or use the camera through Bard’s Google Lens integration. Hsiao says that users have been using the latter feature to take pictures of their clothes and asking it to style it for them, or taking pictures of apps and asking it to write the code scaffolding.

Moreover, Pixel and selected Samsung phones will offer a pop-up floating window after a long press of the power or home button, to ask queries regarding whatever the user is viewing on the screen.

According to Google, Assistant with Bard will launch in limited markets, and not only english-speaking ones. The feature will also be rolled out to iOS devices as well.