Bard is Google’s answer to generative AI assistants like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot. It is accessible through the web browser but Google has plans to integrate it with Google Assistant for a native smartphone experience. This is officially referred to as Assistant with Bard but as per a new report, there are chances it may get rebranded to simply Bard. Here is what we know so far.
Assistant With Bard May Simply Become Bard on Smartphones
The folks over at 9to5Google did an APK teardown of Google app v15.2 and discovered a noteworthy change. They found Assistant with Bard references being changed to simply Bard.
This major difference, where “Assistant with Bard” was replaced with “Bard”, was noticed in multiple places which makes it less likely to be an error on a Google employee’s part.
The introduction text has been changed from “Hi! I’m Assistant with Bard” to “Hi! I’m Bard”. The description of the new assistant has also changed and explains its purpose in a little more detail. You can refer to these changes in the screenshots below.
The report adds such changes are visible in more than one place including the settings menu. For example:
- “Try Assistant with Bard” is now “Try Bard”
- “Assistant with Bard is temporarily unavailable” is now “Bard is temporarily unavailable
- “Assistant with Bard Settings” is now “Bard Settings”
Another change noticed during the APK teardown is that Bard is now referred to as a digital assistant instead of being another Assistant version.
Google has also stopped referring to the older Assistant as “Assistant (classic)”.
All of these changes suggest Google is seeing Bard as its only Assistant for smartphones. It is now unlikely to release Bard as an extension or another version of the Assistant that we all have been using for so long. Interestingly, the change was spotted after Google recently announced the removal of multiple Assistant features, such as playing and controlling audiobooks on Google Play Books and setting or using media alarms, music alarms, or radio alarms. It said these were underutilized features and hence the decision to remove them was taken.
It is currently unknown when Google will release the new Assistant experience powered by Bard. It announced Assistant with Bard at this year’s Made by Google event alongside the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro launch. The reports suggest it will first arrive on the Pixel 8 and Samsung Galaxy S24 series smartphones. The latter series is set to go official in the coming hours and we will have to see if Samsung makes any announcement regarding Assistant with Bard.
Google has already confirmed Assistant with Bard will eventually arrive on both Android and iOS devices. We will keep you posted as and when more details will surface.
