Name Bard disappears
Google's Gemini language model is becoming artificially intelligent
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The tech giant Google is taking the next step in the fight for the chatbot crown. So the name changes – Bard disappears, Gemini comes – and a separate app for the language software comes onto the market, initially in the USA. It remains to be seen when Germany will also be able to try it out.
In the future, Google will combine its apps and services with artificial intelligence under the Gemini brand. To date, only one language model has been named Gemini. Google's chat bot was previously called Bard, named after the English poet William Shakespeare (nickname: “The Bard of Avon”). This name for the challenger to ChatGPT from OpenAI will disappear in the future, announced company boss Sundar Pichai.
In the USA, Gemini will now also be available on smartphones. Cell phones with the Google Android operating system receive their own Gemini app. On Apple's iPhone, Gemini is offered within the existing Google app. The AI system will also replace the previous voice assistant Google Assistant if the users agree to the switch.
Google did not announce when the apps will be available in Europe and Germany. A week after launching in the US, the apps will be rolled out in additional English-speaking countries, as well as in Japanese and Korean in Japan and South Korea. Experience has shown that other languages such as Spanish and German follow a few months apart.
At the same time as the smartphone apps, Google is also launching a paid AI professional version – Gemini Advanced – which is based on the new Ultra 1.0 language model. It is initially offered in 150 countries in the English-speaking world and is part of the Google One subscription service. The AI service costs just under ten US dollars a month, but is only available in the most expensive version of Google One, which costs an additional ten dollars. In return, customers receive, among other things, two terabytes of cloud storage space. It was also not announced when the service can be booked in Europe and Germany.
Google manager Sissie Hsiao said in a blog post that Gemini Advanced is far more powerful at highly complex tasks such as writing code, reasoning, following sophisticated instructions and collaborating on creative projects. “Gemini Advanced not only allows you to have longer, more detailed conversations, but it also better understands the context of your previous prompts.”
