If you’ve tinkered with all the AI-powered chatbots, you’ve likely already tried Bard, the large language model-based bot from Google. Bard was created as a part of Google’s “AI-first” initiative following the debut of ChatGPT, which sparked competition. To say that Bard and its rivals are still in their infancy, however, would not be an exaggeration. Flaws are routinely being discovered, and one Bard user recently brought a critical bug to the attention of Google.

An update posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by Gagan Ghotra recently shed light on the potential for private Bard chats to be indexed by Google search. It was also noted that the conversation URLs linking back to Bard chats were being indexed by the search engine. Shortly after the bug was recorded, Google published a response on X from its @SearchLiason account. While Bard allows users to share their conversations, the company stated that it does not intend to index them — Google claimed it was working on preventing the situation from occurring in the future.

Although Bard still has its flaws, it has come a long way since its humble beginnings. Earlier this year, Google expanded on its plans to continue developing Bard into a more robust AI chatbot. A sneak peek at the UI for future Bard extensions suggested that Kayak, OpenTable, Instacart, and others could eventually be integrated into the bot. It goes without saying that Google-owned services, such as Maps and Flights, will also likely be included.

Aside from the kinks that are still being worked out, Bard has already evolved into a more intelligent chatbot with multiple purposes. For instance, Google delivered on its promise to provide more detailed query responses by adding visuals to Bard. More specifically, the AI chatbot can now provide images in response to user queries. Each image also has a description with it, which makes it helpful while online shopping — fewer accidental purchases and chances of buyer’s remorse.

While Bard can’t solve all the world’s problems just yet, Google seems to hope it’ll get there over time. Given the updates that are continuously being rolled out, the company is clearly taking AI seriously, but for how long? It wasn’t until the launch of ChatGPT that Google appeared largely invested in this area, despite having dabbled with it in the past. As new Bard features debut, it will be interesting to see how dedicated the company remains to the initiative. While the chatbot certainly has potential, the applicability of AI extends well beyond this type of product.

Thanks: Armando R