April 22, 2023 – Google announced on Friday plans to update Bard, its generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, to help users write, debug, and optimize code in software development. The tech giant is working to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving AI technology landscape, with last month’s public release of Bard seeking to gain an edge on Microsoft.
The release of ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by Microsoft-supported startup OpenAI, last year sparked a rush among technology companies to incorporate AI into a wider range of user applications.
Bard, described by Google as an experimental collaborative tool using generative AI, leverages past data to create content instead of simply identifying it. The chatbot will support coding in 20 programming languages, such as Java, C++, and Python, and can assist users with debugging and code explanation.
Google further stated that Bard can optimize code for speed or efficiency by responding to straightforward prompts like “Could you make that code faster?” At present, the chatbot is accessible to a limited number of users who can communicate with Bard and ask questions as an alternative to using Google’s traditional search function.
The public release of Bard began in late March this year, with Google aiming to gather user feedback and gain ground on Microsoft in the fast-paced AI technology race. Bard can display three distinct “drafts” or versions of a given answer, enabling users to toggle between them. Additionally, the chatbot features a “Google it” button for users who prefer to see web results for their queries.
