In a bid to elevate its competitive stance against OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google has announced significant updates to its Bard AI chatbot, including the integration of image generation capabilities powered by the Imagen 2 AI model and an enhanced version of Gemini Pro.
The expansion of Bard's capabilities aims to make AI-driven collaboration more accessible and impactful for users across various creative and practical endeavors. Jack Krawczyk, product lead for Bard, emphasized the significance of these updates in a recent blog post, noting their potential to facilitate everything from major creative projects to daily tasks.
Gemini Pro, initially introduced by Google in different sizes including Nano and Ultra, has now been bolstered with multi-lingual support, making it available in over 40 languages across more than 230 countries and territories. This enhancement aims to broaden access to Gemini Pro's advanced language processing capabilities, including understanding, summarization, reasoning, and coding functionalities.
Despite previous third-party comparisons indicating that Gemini Pro lagged behind its counterparts, Google's latest update seeks to bridge this gap and demonstrate its competitiveness in the generative AI landscape. The updated Gemini Pro on Bard now offers support for multiple languages, enabling users worldwide to leverage its capabilities effectively.
Moreover, Google is introducing long-awaited AI image generation capabilities to Bard, powered by the Imagen 2 model. This enhancement positions Bard as a direct competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus with DALL-E 3 image generator model, allowing users to generate high-quality, photorealistic images from text inputs. Users can simply provide a description, and Bard will generate custom visuals to bring their ideas to life.
While the Imagen 2 model demonstrates impressive performance in generating images, there are some limitations to consider. For instance, the aspect ratio of outputs cannot be changed, and prompts are currently available only in English. Additionally, Google has implemented measures to address copyright infringement concerns by enabling users to report legal issues and embedding digitally identifiable watermarks into generated images.
In addition to updates for Bard, Google is experimenting with ImageFX, a new tool for image generation powered by Imagen 2. This tool, available in Google's AI Test Kitchen, provides users with expressive chips and suggestions to iterate on their prompts creatively. The AI Test Kitchen also features other experimental projects, including MusicFX and TextFX, offering users innovative ways to engage with generative AI technologies.
Overall, Google's updates to Bard signify a significant step forward in enhancing its capabilities and expanding its utility for users worldwide. As the competition in the AI landscape intensifies, these advancements underscore Google's commitment to innovation and its ongoing efforts to deliver impactful AI-driven solutions to its users.
