Google Teases New Assistant with Bard

After Amazon recently unveiled new generative AI features for its Alexa assistant, it appears that Google is ready to follow up. At its Pixel event today, the company teased Assistant with Bard, a new AI-powered personal assistant that will combine the features of the legacy Google Assistant with the generative AI capabilities of Google’s Bard chatbot.

Google said that the new AI assistant is designed to be “a more personalized helper that’s integrated with some of the Google services you already use, like Gmail and Docs.” Assistant with Bard is currently an experimental feature, and Google plans to open access to beta testers on iOS and Android in the coming months.

Today, Google showed how Bard will be able to interact with users through both text and voice. It will help catch up with important emails and ask for specific details about emails. Assistant with Bard will also be able to perform more “classic” generative AI tasks such as helping you to create a shopping list or finding things to do when planning a trip.

In addition to text and voice, Assistant with Bard will also be able to understand what’s on pictures, and Google is working on a more integrated experience on Android with a “conversational overlay.”

“For example, say you just took a photo of your cute puppy you’d like to post to social media. Simply float the Assistant with Bard overlay on top of your photo and ask it to write a social post for you. Assistant with Bard will use the image as a visual cue, understand the context and help with what you need,” the company explained.

Google had pretty much neglected its Google Assistant in recent years, but these new generative AI features are already quite promising. OpenAI’s ChatGPT mobile apps also recently added voice and image capabilities that look quite similar to what Assistant with Bard will be able to do, though access is currently restricted to users with a ChatGPT Plus or Enterprise subscription.