Google introduced its Bard chatbot last year, and it looks like the AI chatbot will get new functionalities and a new identity in the coming days. Dylan Roussel, an app developer and researcher, has spotted and shared a new Bard changelog meant to become public on February 7. It reveals Google Bard is set to be renamed to Gemini. There will also be a dedicated Android app and a paid subscription service for advanced AI features.
Google Bard Rebrand and Other Changes Coming Soon
The first major change mentioned in the alleged changelog is Google Bard’s rebranding to Gemini. The latter is also the name of the language learning model (LLM) that powers the AI assistant.
It is currently available in three variants i.e. Gemini Nano, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Ultra. Each variant offers a different set of functionalities and is meant for different use cases. Google Bard recently received Gemini Pro integration in all supported countries. It can now also generate images based on text prompts. The new name is different from what we heard in the previous rumours last month.
The changelog has explained the rebranding decision as, “We’re committed to giving everyone direct access to Google AI and, as of this week, every Gemini user across our supported countries and languages has access to Google’s best family of AI models. To better reflect this commitment, we’ve renamed Bard to Gemini.”
According to 9to5Google, the changelog further mentions Gemini Advanced, a paid subscription tier. It will allow users to take advantage of the most powerful Google AI model, Gemini Ultra. The approach is similar to how OpenAI offers ChatGPT for free but charges a fee from anyone who wishes to use ChatGPT Plus powered by the latest generative AI model. We first about the existence of a paid model from Google last week.
Paid users will get access to Gemini Ultra 1.0 once it is released. They will continue to get all the latest AI developments and improvements that Google will have to offer. It is said to be available and optimized only for the English language, but can respond to queries in other languages supported by Gemini. The changelog says it will be available in over 150 countries and territories.
Google Bard is also set to receive a dedicated Android app once it becomes Gemini. In other words, the app will be known as Gemini. It would make it a lot more convenient and quick to access Gemini’s capabilities. There will be integration with Google apps like YouTube, Gmail, and Maps.
Gemini app users will be able to interact using voice, text, and images. The app is said to debut in English and the United States first. It will expand to support Japanese, Korean, and English globally. Unfortunately, iOS users will have to use Gemini from within the Google app.
All the aforementioned Google Bard changes are expected to arrive on February 7. We will keep you posted as and when Google makes an official announcement about the rebranding and other new functionalities.
