Google has begun upgrading its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Bard in the UK as part of the global rollout of a next-generation model designed to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The US tech giant and its London-based DeepMind division unveiled its long-promised new base model Gemini earlier this month at Bird in the US and in more than 170 countries, but initially postponed its UK launch. Was.
It will now be available across Bard in the UK, with other countries and languages to follow “in the near future”.
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai hails Gemini as the company’s “most capable” generative AI model to date and the biggest upgrade to Bard since its launch earlier this year. did.
Although it will initially power text-based prompts, Google says Gemini will be expanded to be “multimodal” in the coming months, meaning it will work with different types of information across words, images, video, and audio. and can be combined.
Debbie Weinstein, Managing Director and Vice President, Google UK, said: Powered by Gemini Pro, Bard is more capable and more imaginative.
“I can’t wait to see the results of the combination of Britain’s great minds and Bird’s limitless potential.”
This follows the latest release of ChatGPT in March, and comes as rapid advances in AI accelerate, with Google following suit in a wave of next-generation generative AI models that experts predict will make significant advances. .
Google claims that Gemini is the first AI model to beat “human experts” in its range of intelligence tests.
Upon its launch earlier this month, the company confirmed it would give the UK’s AI Safety Institute (announced at the government’s recent AI Summit) access to its most powerful AI models.
Google has tweaked Gemini Pro, one of the three levels of the model, to be more capable in areas such as understanding, summarizing, reasoning, coding, and planning.
We’re also working hard to further expand functionality for future versions, including advances in planning and memory and providing better responses.
Gemini will also be integrated into Pixel 8 Pro smartphones, powering new features like “Recap” in the Recorder app and “Smart Reply” in Google Keyboard, including WhatsApp Messaging.
The group said the model will also be available for more products and services “in the coming months,” including search, ads, Chrome and Duet AI, Google’s AI-powered cloud assistant.
The group said it would take safety measures while working “in partnership” with governments and experts to avoid the growing risks posed by AI.
The group said Gemini is the result of “extensive” collaboration between teams across Google, including Deepmind and Google Research.
