Gmail, YouTube and Maps are coming to Google Bard to make you forget ChatGPT

Another big update for Google Bard, which thanks to “Extensions” can now interact with Gmail, YouTube, Maps and other Google apps to provide you with more relevant answers. Other new features, particularly those available in French, are also being introduced to improve artificial intelligence.

Full potential at last? Not yet, but Google Bard is slowly becoming more interesting to test. Thus, the conversational agent, based on powerful artificial intelligence, is full of new features. The most notable of these is the integration of “Extensions” that allow the AI ​​to interact with the web giant’s apps such as Gmail, Maps, YouTube or Drive.

Let’s remember that Google Bard recently learned to speak French. Be careful, though: not all of the new features we’re about to look at are available in Molière’s language. Rest assured you will still have access to it from France. Will this be enough to make you forget about ChatGPT’s formidable competitor? Judge instead.

Google Bard Extensions (Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Docs…)

As we said, the big announcement is the arrival of extensions. Thanks to them, when you run a Google request, Bard will be able to search and display information from applications and services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Drive.

Google provides a few examples to make this all more concrete.

• “Give me a template for writing a wedding best man speech and show me a YouTube video of it for inspiration.»
• “Summarize our recent school excursion bookings from Gmail and place them in a table with date and time.“.

In the examples above, the request mentions the name of the application being exploited, but this is not always necessary. In another Maps example, Google suggests the following phrase. “Where can I take my 3 year old daughter to pick pumpkins and give me ideas for fall themed crafts I can do with her.» Here the Bard will use Maps to show you a suitable location.

That’s not all: these extensions also work by using two Google apps or services simultaneously or sequentially. For example, you might start by asking the Bard: “what places are listed in my document Costa Rica 2024“. The AI ​​will use Google Docs to find information. You can then request a map of all those locations. There, Bard will rely on Maps.

Below are other examples.

• YouTube and Google Lens: “This is a new car seat that I bought. Show me some tutorial videos showing how to install it.»
• YouTube and Maps: “Find hotels in Paris for a week in November and videos of things to do with kids.»

What about privacy? Google promises that no moderator, called a reviewer, will review data from your Gmail, Drive, etc. accounts. The firm also points out that the data in question is not used to train Bard or better target ads to you. Additionally, you can disable extensions at any time.

Please note that this new feature is one of those that is only available in English. You can use extensions in France, but not when writing letters in French. Among the applications and services mentioned we also find Google Flights and Google Hotels. The firm plans to open extensions to third-party apps, but explains that it wants to move forward gradually to ensure this new option functions properly.

New Google Bard features available in French

This Google Bard update still contains some new features available in French. Essentially, these are features already available in English that are now becoming more accessible.

Note that you can upload a photo to ask a related question in French. Bard uses Google Lens to interpret the content of the image. For its part, the AI ​​can also respond by integrating images, something it previously only did with English texts.

From now on, French speakers will also be able to change the tone and duration of Google Bard responses.

Finally, note that if someone shares a conversation they had with Bard with you via a public link, you will be able to pick up the conversation where it left off.

Better check Google Bard’s answers

Let’s return to the new feature, available only in English. Google Bard offers the ability to better verify the veracity of your claims. It’s good that a great storyteller can still become one. This makes the “G” button—the Google logo—more relevant. If you click on it, Bard will analyze the answer he just gave you and double check what he finds online to see if he can back up his claim.

The user will be able to click on highlighted passages of text to see elements that support or contradict those passages. “It is important to note that the links provided are content found through Search and do not imply that these sources were the basis for Bard’s original answer.“, Google emphasizes.

To go further, also know that the large language model on which Google Bard is based, PaLM 2, has been strengthened to make the conversational agent even more capable and accurate. This particularly applies to seamless switching from one language to another, more efficient comparison of information, more efficient coding, etc.

Please remember that Google Bard is an online service available at bard.google.com. You can use it on a PC or smartphone, but there is no dedicated application at the moment, you will have to access it through the browser.