Google’s experimental AI chatbot Bard may be coming to the Google Messages app soon, and it promises to significantly improve phone-based interactions.
Tipster Assembler Debug discovered the feature in Google Messages’ beta code. The AI-enhanced features are not yet accessible, and Assembler Debug reports that they do not appear to work. According to leaked photos, you may use Bard to help you write text messages, plan a date, and craft a sick note to your boss, among other unpleasant talks.
Bard in Google Messages may also help you interpret conversations, recognize photographs, and discover new interests. The coding shows that it may also provide book recommendations and cooking ideas.
According to an investigation of its code, the app is thought to leverage your location data and previous chat information to generate more accurate responses. You can, however, provide input to Bard’s response by long tapping a thumbs up or down, as well as copy, forward, and favorite its replies, allowing the AI to understand whether or not its response was acceptable.
The project codename “Penpal” was found in a beta version (20240111_04_RC00) of the Google Messages app. According to 9to5Google’s beta code insights, Bard may be accessible by selecting the “New conversation” option, which allows you to use Bard as a standalone chat option.
You must be at least 18 years old to use it, and discussions with Bard in the Messages app are not end-to-end encrypted or treated as private, unlike messages exchanged with contacts. So, if Bard is enabled, you may want to avoid sending personal or sensitive messages using the app.
Google claims that conversation records are saved for eighteen months to help improve Bard and can be reviewed by a human, but no information is tied with your account after three years. Google advises not to say anything to Bard that you don’t want others to see. Conversations with Bard may be examined by Google but are not available to other users. You can, however, delete your conversation history with Bard at any moment; the data will be removed after 72 hours.
Echoes of Allo
Bard AI’s integration in the Messages app is reminiscent of the previous effort Google Allo, which used the Google Assistant in both stand-alone inquiries and chats. This service was discontinued in 2019, but it may linger on in some form through the Bard integration.
When confronted with the question, Bard replied: “While I can’t say for certain right now, there are strong indications that I might become available with Google RCS messages in the future.”
Bard went on to state that integration with Google Messages would be tested in March 2023, and that the functionality matches with Bard’s ability to interpret language, generate text, answer queries, and summarize information, making it a perfect fit for enhancing messages.
The integration of AI into messaging apps mirrors many firms’ enthusiasm to incorporate AI technologies into their forthcoming smartphones, with Samsung’s Galaxy AI capabilities serving as a recent example. Google, on the other hand, is no stranger to AI tools on its phones, with Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, and Live Translate all being standard capabilities on Pixel devices.
The ramifications of AI being added to messages are also intriguing, since you may never know whether that thoughtful response or wonderful date idea was generated by a person or their AI helper.
Although Bard’s inclusion in Google’s messaging app is not yet ready, and no release date has been announced, Google may decide not to proceed with the project. Google could take the Samsung approach and make its functions this is a subscription-based feature. However, all of this is guesswork at the moment, and we’ll have to wait and see how much Bard changes the Messages app in the future.
1 Comment