Google launches Hebrew version of AI chatbot Bard

Bard, Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot, is now available in Hebrew, the tech giant announced Thursday as part of a major update to the program.

In a blog post, the company said it is adding more features to Bard as it scrambles to keep up with rival Microsoft — which uses OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT service in its Bing search engine — in the race to capitalize on generative artificial intelligence technology that has captured worldwide attention.

The technology is now available in 40 languages. Other new features include being able to listen to Bard’s responses; using images in prompts; and exporting code created by the chatbot.

Google launched Bard in February, but its planned rollout last month in the European Union was delayed as regulators checked whether the service complied with the 27-nation bloc’s strict privacy rules.

The company said it has “proactively engaged with experts, policymakers and privacy regulators.”

The Irish Data Protection Commission, Google’s main EU privacy watchdog, said it sent the internet search giant a detailed list of questions seeking more information.

בשורה משמעותית למשתמשי הבינה המלאכותית בישראל: גוגל משיקה את שירות ה-AI שלה בעברית – מנהל המוצר של בארד ג'ק קרבצ'יק סיפר על כך ל-@DovGilHar
הריאיון המלא וניסוי הכלים העברי בפלטפורמה – היום ב-#חדשותהערב pic.twitter.com/GnfE6lYjB5

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) July 13, 2023

As a result, Google paused development and “made a number of changes” ahead of Thursday’s European launch, “in particular increased transparency and changes to controls for users,” the watchdog said.