Key Takeaways
Google's Bard AI will work directly with Google Tools and other third-party services, giving it more abilities.
Bard previously relied on cached web page data, but this limited its access to up-to-date information, such as fluctuating prices or availability of plane tickets.
Users can control which extensions are turned on and adjust privacy settings, for a customized and secure experience.
Google has plans to make Bard better by allowing it to work directly with Google's own services like Google Maps, Google Flights, and YouTube, as well as services from other companies.
Until now, Bard has been using information pulled from website pages that have been cached by Google Search. This means it got data that Google had stored from web pages to answer questions or give information.
However, there are limits to this method because it might not access the newest data, like prices that change or if aeroplane tickets are still available, which can't be effectively cached.
So, Google is planning to let Bard work directly with Google's own tools along with services from other companies.
This integration is meant to make the Bard experience better, as it will be able to use the abilities of different Google apps and services that users already know how to use.
Also, the user's privacy settings will be respected, making sure that they control how these tools and extensions are used.
Google also announced working with Adobe, specifically Adobe Firefly, which is an AI model that can create images.
This will allow users to turn their creative ideas into high-quality images, which can then be edited or added to their designs in Adobe Express.
Bard might be launching with as many as nine "Extensions". These include Google's own services like Google Flights, Google Hotels, Google Maps and YouTube, as well as services from other companies like Instacart, Kayak, OpenTable, Redfin, and Zillow.
Some of these services overlap, for example, Kayak and Google Flights both let you book flights.
These services will be available from a new Extensions menu, shown by a puzzle-piece icon, and will let users turn particular services on or off. Here, users can also learn how to use each Bard Extension with provided examples.
Google is also preparing a Workspace extension for Bard, which would allow Bard to access your Google Docs, Drive, and Gmail.
This would let Bard and Google Workspace share data to complete your requests. As with other extensions, users would be able to unlink them at any time.
Adding these new features to Bard puts it at a similar level as ChatGPT in terms of what it can do.
Just like Bard, ChatGPT is also currently adding its own set of plugins, including options from Kayak and Instacart.