Google's Bard Chatbot Now Available in the EU and Most Countries Worldwide

Google has expanded access to its text-based AI chatbot, Bard, to more countries. The AI-powered chatbot is now available in many countries around the world, including all European Union member states, Brazil, and Ukraine, according to 9to5google.

Bard is now accessible to users in 27 EU countries, including France, Germany, and Italy. Its launch in these countries, as well as the EU as a whole, had been delayed due to regulatory concerns, including user privacy protection. Google now states that it has engaged with experts, policymakers, and privacy regulators to address these concerns.

The Google chatbot now supports 12 languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Korean, and Japanese. Several new features have also been added, including chat pinning, translation capabilities, and the ability to write various creative text formats.

Google is actively working on other AI language models such as LaMDA and Meena and leveraging these technologies in its products, including Google Search and Google Assistant.

In March, Google started providing public access to its AI service for users in the United States and the United Kingdom through preregistration. Initially, EU countries, Ukraine, and Canada were not included in the list of countries granted access to this new technology, as stated on the Google website. It is worth noting that Bard, like other Google services, remains inaccessible in China.

For users in countries where the service is not officially available, they can still utilize VPN services or special extensions to interact with Bard. Limitations are imposed due to national norms and legislation.

Last month, Google expanded the presence of its generative AI chatbot in over 180 countries worldwide. However, it did not receive permission to operate in the European Union due to non-compliance with confidentiality requirements. In particular, the Irish Data Protection Commission stated that Google did not provide sufficient information on how Bard would protect the privacy of EU citizens.