Google Bard AI is getting images support, better coding, app integration

Google announces major updates to its Bard AI, including image capabilities, coding features, and app integration. The chatbot also expands to more territories.

Avatar for Mauro Huculak
@Pureinfotech
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Google Bard dark mode
Google Bard dark mode
  • Google Bard is getting a bunch of new features.
  • Some of these new features include image capabilities, improved coding, app integration, and extensions.
  • The company is also expanding the availability of the chatbot and ending the waitlist process.
  • In addition, the company says that it will bring extensions to allow third-party services to plug into Bard.

Google is about to step up with its Bard AI chatbot with several new features and changes, including the ability to generate images, new features for coding, and app integration. In addition, the company is expanding the chatbot access to every supported region, and it’s making Bard available to everyone ending the signup waitlist process.

On May 10, at the Google IO 2023, the company announced a slew of updates for many of its products, but the primary focus was AI. In addition to bringing new AI capabilities to search results and across many other products, such as Gmail and Docs, the company also unveiled various significant updates for its Bard AI chatbot.

Google Bard support expansion 

For example, the search giant once again confirmed that Bard is now using the PaLM 2 model, which is the latest and more robust large-scale language model that unlocks more features to improve reasoning, coding, math, and the ability to resolve more advanced problems.

Also, Google announced that it is ending the waitlist and making Bard available to everyone in over 180 countries, and more regions are “coming soon.” Furthermore, the chatbot is now available in Japanese and Korean, and support for more languages is also coming soon.

Image support 

Initially, Bard was limited to text-based answers, but in this update, the chatbot will be able to show responses with rich visuals with images alongside the text response.

Bard with images
Bard with images / Image: Google

According to the company, it’s integrating Google Lens into Bard, which allows you to upload a photo and ask the chatbot to provide information or create content based on the image.

Bard upload image
Bard upload image / Image: Google

Coding skill improvements

As part of the AI coding skills, the AI chatbot will improve source citations, add dark theme support, and integrate a new button to export content.

Bard new coding skills
Bard new coding skills / Image: Google

In the announcement, the company says it’s making citations more precise. If the chatbot brings in a block of code or cites other content, you will be able to click the annotation, and the chatbot will underline those parts of the response and link to the source.

Also, Google Bard now includes dark theme support. You can enable the feature manually or set it to change the color scheme depending on the system color settings.

Furthermore, the company is adding the ability to export and run code with “Replit,” starting with Python. In addition, you will now be able to export responses into Gmail and Docs.

While some of the features mentioned above will be available in the coming weeks and others soon, the company also shared some details of the future of Bard.

Google Bard future

For instance, in the near future, Google plans to further integrate its apps and services, such as Docs, Drive, Gmail, Maps, and others, into the AI chatbot experience. It also plans to bring extensions (similar to Bing Chat) to allow third-party services to integrate with Bard.

One of these integrations is the partnership with Adobe Firefly to create high-quality images, which you will able to continue editing with Adobe Express.

Other partners that Google is working with include Kayak, OpenTable, ZipRecruiter, Instacart, Wolfram, and Khan Academy.

About the author
Avatar for Mauro Huculak

Mauro Huculak is a Windows expert and the Editor-in-Chief who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He is also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 12 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows, software, and related technologies, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.