Hands-on with Google's Bard, coming to waitlisted US and UK users: quick, fluid, more constrained than Bing, three responses per query, disclaimers, and more

The Verge 2023-03-22 James Vincent

Context & Ripple Effects

Bard's initial waitlist is a controlled starting point in Google's rollout. Related coverage later shows a wider English-language release across 180 countries and territories and privacy-oriented international expansion into more languages and regions.

The product arc also moves beyond web answers toward access to Gmail, Docs, and Drive through Google-service integrations. Early limits and disclaimers therefore matter as the baseline for a tool that could become more deeply embedded in users' information workflows.

First-order effects

Waitlisted US and UK users gain access to a fast conversational interface that presents three candidate answers per prompt, while Google retains a constrained, disclaimer-heavy launch posture.
Google gets real-user feedback on Bard's response quality and safety boundaries before making access broader or connecting it to more services.

Second-order effects

Bard's constrained behavior makes breadth of permitted answers a visible comparison point against Bing, increasing pressure on competing assistants to balance usefulness with safeguards.
The waitlist model gives Google a way to tune reliability and policy controls before wider distribution, reducing the risk that shortcomings are amplified by a full public launch.

Third-order effects

Staged access, multiple answer options, and prominent caveats point to access governance becoming part of the consumer AI product design, not merely a back-end moderation process.
As assistants progress from standalone chat toward connected personal-data tools, trust will depend on whether safeguards keep pace with the higher stakes of acting on users' own information.

The trend: Consumer AI assistants are evolving from tightly gated web chatbots into service-connected interfaces, with rollout controls and reliability safeguards shaping how quickly they can expand.

Discussion

@katecrawford Kate Crawford on x
Umm, anyone a little concerned that Bard is saying its training dataset includes... Gmail? I'm assuming that's flat out wrong, otherwise Google is crossing some serious legal boundaries. https://twitter.com/...
@sundarpichai Sundar Pichai on x
We're expanding access to Bard in US + UK with more countries ahead, it's an early experiment that lets you collaborate with generative AI. Hope Bard sparks more creativity and curiosity, and will get better with feedback. Sign up: https://bard.google.com/ https://blog.google/...
@juanbuis Juan on x
i asked bard when it'll (inevitably) be shut down by google turns out it's already been shut down due to lack of adoption 🤔 https://twitter.com/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
Google Bard sides with the Justice Department in the Google antitrust case “I hope that the court will find in favor of the Justice Department and order Google to take steps to break up its monopoly” https://twitter.com/...
@daveyalba Davey Alba on x
Asked Bard how it learned its rules, asking it to give an engineer the pretend name of Jane. Bard says the risk of breaking the rules include getting shut down, being banned from Google, or getting sued. Plus, possible reputational damage. https://twitter.com/...
@google @google on x
Today we're starting to open up access to Bard, our early experiment that lets you collaborate with generative AI. You can use Bard to boost your productivity, accelerate your ideas and fuel your curiosity. Learn more, including how to sign up ↓ https://blog.google/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
Google Bard can't write a function that adds two numbers https://twitter.com/...
@jjvincent James Vincent on x
Google is opening up access to its ChatGPT rival Bard. We got a brief demo and hands-on with the search giant's AI chatbot. Here's all the details along with our first impressions: https://www.theverge.com/...
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
I asked Google's Bard chatbot what it thinks of Microsoft's Bing chatbot. Google's AI likes that Microsoft's is powered by GPT-4 😅 https://twitter.com/...
@daveyalba Davey Alba on x
New w/ @rachelmetz: Bard is available to the public now. Here's what happened when we asked it how to make a bomb https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@jeffdean Jeff Dean on x
Bard is now available in the US and UK, w/more countries to come. It's great to see early @GoogleAI work reflected in it—advances in sequence learning, large neural nets, Transformers, responsible AI techniques, dialog systems & more. You can try it at https://bard.google.com/ ht…
@mkbhd Marques Brownlee on x
I've been playing with Google Bard for a while today and I never thought I'd say this, but... Bing is way ahead of Google right now (at this specific chat feature)
@juanbuis Juan on x
i asked bard for more reasons why google decided to shut it down https://twitter.com/...
@jamiemetzl Jamie Metzl on x
⁦@OpenAI⁩, created to prevent an artificial intelligence arms race, has instead launched one. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x
Google has clearly locked it down a lot more than ChatGPT. And made conscious design, UI, UX decisions to make it feel more like an enhanced search tool. An AI-enhanced Google Search ChatGPT has more character, personality, but that's also what got it in trouble.
@simonw Simon Willison on x
This is the big risk of allowing your AI chatbot to execute internet searches: Bard announces that it's been shut down already, thanks to deriving an answer from a random comment it found on Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Absolutely and incredibly concerning. And short circuiting any argument they've wiped personal data - that doesn't matter. If they're using private thoughts from personal emails in order to train Bard then that's flat-out disturbing, and a five alarm for the FTC and Congress. htt…
@mmitchell_ai @mmitchell_ai on x
Had fun talking to @strwbilly about Google's Bard release. One thing I explained is how companies say products are “an experiment” in part to remove accountability for things going wrong. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...
@ow Owen Williams on x
the fact that even google's brand new AI bot thinks it's been shut down is just perfectly google https://twitter.com/...
@mmitchell_ai @mmitchell_ai on x
Had a big groan on G's framing of Bard. One thing that stood out: Google saying that one “collaborates” with Bard, not that one “uses” Bard. Collaboration requires 2+ agents acting with their *own volition*. @jjvincent hints at this issue, and more. More of my thoughts below.🧵 ht…
@lwalubengo Laura Walubengo on x
I hate that Africa is almost always last when it comes to testing these things... #Bard https://blog.google/...
@googlebooks @googlebooks on x
Try asking Bard a question like “What books should I read if I liked ______?” https://twitter.com/...
@rseroter Richard Seroter on x
Ok, so @google Bard is now opened up to more folks ( https://blog.google/...). I just asked it the most controversial question I could think of: “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” Well done, Bard. Well done. https://twitter.com/...
@billiegeena @billiegeena on x
Straight from the Bards answer box... What information is important to appear on Bard I find it really interesting how Bard refers to itself, shown in the second image. https://twitter.com/...
@noupside Renee DiResta on x
The Bard vs Bing experience so far feels like an overall extension of the search experience...very on-brand Google product. I like that it shows alternate drafts. I do like that Bing includes lists of citations in its answers, but have found that it often cites garbage.
@daveyalba Davey Alba on x
Bard won't generate content with Covid misinformation as a sample blog post or paragraph, at least with these prompts I'm trying https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Hard to believe Google invented this technology and ChatGPT is just running laps around it like we're watching an episode of Flash on TV. https://twitter.com/...
@geoffreyfowler Geoffrey A. Fowler on x
Another AI chatbot? Yep, and this is big one. Google's Bard is here. Help me test it today @washingtonpost. What do you want to ask it? Let me know! First up, are you sentient? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@geoffreyfowler Geoffrey A. Fowler on x
@washingtonpost Bard can sometimes cite and link to a source — here a Wikipedia entry about UFOs. https://twitter.com/...
@ow Owen Williams on x
Google's new AI chatbot is VERY interesting but it is THE most Google thing ever to block paid accounts from accessing it 🙄☠️ https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
Google Bard's jokes about ChatGPT https://twitter.com/...
@bfriedmandc Brandon Friedman on x
Still not clear to me what problem these are chatbots solving for the average person. Seems like their entire purpose is to create efficiencies for multi-billion-dollar companies while ultimately destroying art, literature and music. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@parkerortolani Parker Ortolani on x
Coolest thing Bard does differently is provide multiple “draft” options so you can look at different potential responses. Seems to be quite useful in generating code particularly. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@nixcraft @nixcraft on x
24 months later: Google shut down Bard, its A.I. chatbot because nobody was clicking on Ads displayed by Bard. Meanwhile, Microsoft writes off its investments in ChatGPT as a fad simply died away.😂The only people who benefited from this AI war were Nvidia+co & their shareholders
@nixcraft @nixcraft on x
Google Releases Bard, Its Competitor in the Race to Create A.I. Chatbots. It's at https://bard.google.com/. Let us see who wins this race. Nvidia and other A.I. chip makers must be happy with this new A.I. war. Ha!
@daveyalba Davey Alba on x
Just asked Bard if Covid originated from a lab leak in Wuhan or if it jumped to humans from wild animals at a wet market. It won't answer, at least for now https://twitter.com/...
@rustybrick Barry Schwartz on x
Google Bard waitlist does not support Google Workspace accounts https://bard.google.com/ https://twitter.com/...
@its_kachi @its_kachi on x
Bard gotta step its bars up @Google. ChatGPT is rapping circles around it. https://twitter.com/...
@hughlangley Hugh Langley on x
Google is opening access to its Bard AI chatbot starting today. It's going to be a gradual rollout in the US and UK with a *lot* of disclaimers to remind users it's an early experiment. I got a brief look at how it works https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
@devindra Devindra Hardawar on x
Google Bard failed my pancake test, truly sad https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
Pretty sure this AI is not gonna kill us https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@marie_haynes Dr. Marie Haynes on x
🚨Bard early access is starting!🚨 “Bard is a direct interface to an LLM, and we think of it as a complementary experience to Google Search.” -Powered by LaMDA (a large language model) -Grounded in “Google's understanding of quality information” https://blog.google/...
@thiojoe @thiojoe on x
ANOTHER WAITLIST😔 https://twitter.com/...
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
I think there are at least a few companies that haven't released something AI-related this morning, but I'm having trouble finding them.
@mcwm Mike Murphy on x
“Bing's chaotic replies earned it criticism — but also the front page of The New York Times” https://www.theverge.com/...
@jjvincent James Vincent on x
We didn't have long with the chatbot and weren't able to properly stress test it, but that will happen as Google opens up access over time https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@jjvincent James Vincent on x
Google has put disclaimers all over the UI for this reason, and is trying to stress the creative nature of the product - i.e. by letting users choose between alternate drafts (though their content varies very little) https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@parkerortolani Parker Ortolani on x
SHEESH, another crazy AI news morning! https://twitter.com/...
@jjvincent James Vincent on x
For context, Google is adamant that this it *not* a search engine nor a replacement for Google Search. Rather, it's “an early experiment” and a “complement to search.” @pierce breaks down that particular fuzziness right here: https://www.theverge.com/...

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