Google announced today (yesterday) that Bard, its experimental chatbot hurriedly launched to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is now called Gemini.
In response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which heralded a new age in the tech sector, Google, the industry’s previous leader in AI, reorganized its labs and introduced a plethora of occasionally redundant AI services. These included the workplace assistant Duet AI, the chatbot Bard, and a search function akin to a chatbot.
Google is now combining a number of its generative AI products under the Gemini AI model, directly targeting OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus subscription service.
Significantly more is included in the new Google bundle than in the $20 monthly membership to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus. Access to the company’s most potent chatbot as well as OpenAI’s brand-new “GPT store,” which provides developers-crafted custom chatbot features, are included in the service. Google One users may now get greater Gmail, Drive, and photo storage for the same monthly fee as well as a more robust chat-ified search experience.
Google would not disclose the number of users that the chatbot that was originally known as Bard has acquired thus far, but a Google representative said that “people are collaborating with Gemini” in more than 220 nations and territories worldwide. The new Gemini will initially be offered in English in the US before becoming available in English, Japanese, and Korean throughout the larger Asia Pacific region.
Given that many users may view Bard as an afterthought to ChatGPT, David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School who specializes in the strategy of large technology platforms, believes it makes sense for Google to rebrand the product. He said, “Bard has largely been a tainted brand,”
Bard took longer to get to Europe than other regions of the world after it’s release last year. This was allegedly because European officials were concerned about privacy. It was only last week that the Gemini AI model, which debuted in December, became accessible in Europe. Following that trend, the new Gemini mobile app, which was released today, will not be accessible for the time being in Europe or the UK.
