Given how popular image generation is right now, Google Bard’s recent update, which includes AI image generation, is all but inevitable.
According to the official Google Bard update website, utilizing the tool is really straightforward. To use the AI image generator, simply enter “a few words” into the search bar, “starting with English prompts.” Then, “click ‘Generate more’ for more options and download the ones you like.”
Those generated photos are saved in bookmarked chats, recent chats, and Bard Activity, and can be removed from Bard Activity by deleting the prompt that created them.
Bard’s image generation is powered by the new Imagen 2 model, which is designed to balance speed and quality to produce photorealistic images. The new feature is available worldwide, including in the United States, but not in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, or the United Kingdom. It is also only available in English and for people aged 18 and up, however how Google would enforce the age limitation beyond a basic ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ inquiry is unclear.
In terms of responsibility, Google claims on its official blog that “Bard uses SynthID to embed digitally identifiable watermarks into the pixels of generated images,” distinguishing its AI-made images from those created by humans. Most likely, this feature was designed to discourage people from exploiting created photographs for commercial purposes, which would open up a legal can of worms.
Google also claims that it aims to minimize violent, offensive, or sexual content in training data, as well as use filters to prevent named individuals from being engaged in image generation.
Bard using Gemini Pro will also benefit from this new update. On the page for the upgrade, it says that “Bard will be far more capable at things like understanding, summarising, reasoning, brainstorming, writing, and planning.” This improvement to Bard’s AI is most likely what enabled Google to provide the free AI image generation tool in the first place, as well as support.
Google Bard is taking over
Google has gone all in with its Bard AI, gradually replacing Google Assistant, the company’s prior response to Apple’s Siri. It was discovered that Google modified the greeting pop-up for several devices from ‘I’m Assistant with Bard’ to just ‘I’m Bard.’
It was also stated that Google would be deleting 17 Assistant functions in the coming weeks, including the ability to play audiobooks on Google Play Books using voice commands and inquire for contact information. The official notification even suggested that other functions will be deleted.
