Google Bard is a chatbot Google's AI has been continuously upgraded and was recently rebranded as Google Gemini. So what is Google Bard? what is Google Gemini? Here is what you need to know.
What is Google Gemini?
So what is gg Bard? What is Google Gemini? In essence, Gemini is a conversational Google AI chatbot, rebranded from Google Bard (gg Bard), which functions similarly to ChatGPT, with the biggest difference being that Google's service pulls information from the web. Meanwhile, ChatGPT's data is limited to 2021.
Like most AI chatbots, Gemini can write code, solve math problems, and assist with your writing needs. Starting in February of this year, Gemini Google AI added the ability to generate images. To access Gemini chat, all you have to do is visit the Gemini website and sign in to your Google account.
When was Google Bard renamed to Gemini? Why?
Bard was the name first announced on February 6 in a statement from Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. Google Bard was released over a month later, on March 21, 2023. And nearly a year later, Google Bard AI was renamed to Gemini.
Google renamed Google Bard to Gemini on February 8 to align with Google's LLM, which powers the AI chatbot. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, stated: "To reflect the advanced technology at its core, Bard will now simply be called Gemini."
When Google Bard first launched nearly a year ago, it had some major flaws. Since then, it has evolved significantly with two large language model (LLM) upgrades and several updates, and the new name may be a way to leave the past behind.
Why did Google decide to launch Gemini (or Google Bard) at that time?
Let's go back to late November 2022, when ChatGPT was released. Less than a week after its launch, ChatGPT had over a million users. According to an analysis by the Swiss bank UBS, ChatGPT became the fastest-growing "app" of all time. Other tech companies, including Google, saw this success and wanted to join the race.
In the same week Google launched Google Bard, In February 2023, Microsoft also announced a new AI-enhanced Bing, running on a next-generation OpenAI LLM customized specifically for search.
How does Gemini work? What are the upgrades?
Chat Gemini Updates has undergone several LLM upgrades since its launch. Initially, Gemini chat, known as Bard at the time, used a lighter version of the LaMDA model, which required less computing power and could scale to more users.
LaMDA was built on the Transformer foundation, Google's neural network architecture that the company invented and open-sourced in 2017. Interestingly, GPT-3, the language model that powers ChatGPT, is also built on Transformer.
The performance of that AI chat left many users unimpressed; as a result, Google quickly pivoted, upgrading the chatbot to PaLM 2, which was unveiled at Google I/O 2023. PaLM 2, a more advanced version of the PaLM released in April 2022, allowed Gemini chat to perform much more effectively than its original model.
Then, in December 2023, Google upgraded Gemini Google AI once again, making Gemini the AI chat most advanced and best the company has to offer to date.
Google's decision to use its own LLMs—LaMDA, PaLM 2, and Gemini—is a bold one, as some of the most popular AI chatbots today, including ChatGPT and Copilot, use the GPT series of language models.
What is Google's Gemini AI model?
At Google I/O 2023, the company announced Gemini as an LLM created by Google DeepMind. At the time of Google I/O, the company reported that the LLM was still in its early stages. Google later made its Gemini model available to the public in December.
Gemini Google AI currently comes in three versions: Gemini Nano, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Ultra. Each Gemini version is suited for different types of tasks.
Gemini Google AI is it available to all users?
At Google I/O, the tech giant announced that there is no longer a waitlist for Gemini, meaning it is now open to everyone.
Previously, Gemini chat had a waitlist that opened on March 21, 2023, and Google granted rolling access to a limited number of users in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Where can you access Gemini chat ?
Users can access Gemini via its standalone website on desktop. Soon, users will also be able to access Gemini chat on mobile devices through the newly launched Gemini Android app or the Google app for iOS.
Which languages can be used with Gemini AI Chat?
The full list of languages shared by Google includes: Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Marathi, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
Is image-based or multimodal search possible on Gemini?
In the Gemini Chat Updates last July, Google added multimodal search, allowing users to input images as well as text into the chatbot.
Users can perform multimodal searches through the integration of Google Lens into Google's Gemini AI. This feature is incredibly useful, as users can upload an image and ask Gemini for more information about it or include it in a prompt.
For example, I showed Gemini a photo of a dog, and the chatbot was able to accurately identify it as a Yorkie, as shown in the image below.
Does Gemini include images in its responses?
Yes, as of late May 2023, Gemini was updated to include images in its responses. These images are pulled from Google's Gemini AI chatbot and appear when you ask a question that can be better answered with the inclusion of a photo.
For instance, when I asked the Gemini chatbot: "What are some of the best places to visit in New York?", Gemini provided a list accompanied by photos for each location, as seen in the image below.
Can you generate images in Gemini?
Yes, as of February 1, 2024, Gemini can generate images using Imagen 2, Google's most advanced text-to-image model developed by Google DeepMind. It is very simple to use. All you have to do is ask the Gemini AI chatbot to "draw" or "generate" an image and describe the image you want.
The results are impressive; complex parts like hands or faces are handled quite well, as you can see in the photo below. It automatically generates two images, but if you want to see four, you can click the "generate more" option.
With the information shared above, Gemini is clearly an AI chatbot that is fantastic to experience. If you haven't used Gemini yet, you should definitely give it a try!
