Introducing Bard: Google's AI set to revolutionize text messaging

Melding artificial intelligence with a messenger is not a groundbreaking concept. Google Assistant was initially launched as a feature in the now-obsolete Allo app. We are now ushering in the Bard era within Messages.

Bard, Google's rival to ChatGPT, is currently available through a web browser. Yet, it's broadly accepted that its creators intend to incorporate it into the company's most widely used apps and services. In October, it was revealed that the new assistant will be integrated with Google Assistant in the upcoming months. Similar strategies are at play for the SMS management app or RCS.

9to5Google analyzed the .apk file of the latest Google Messages beta version and discovered Bard concealed within it. Upon activation, it appeared on the conversation list as a new contact.

Bard facilitates "analysis, creation, and the discovery of novelties." Users can interact with it to pose challenging questions or to generate premeditated text messages. Some command examples include:

• Compose a text message to my boss conveying my absence today due to illness. It's an important day with a team presentation, so I regret disappointing the team. Convey this in a maximum of 3 sentences.
• Plan a vegetarian meal with the ingredients I have on hand: cauliflower, cucumber, and yogurt.
• Devise a sophisticated word puzzle with the solution: sunset. Drawing from your experience as a riddle creator, renowned for your creative word games and puzzle complexity, innovate to create a challenging riddle. Provide clues to assist the user in guessing the answer.

I think these examples may not be the most beneficial, as instructing a three-sentence command to generate a three-sentence text seems somewhat redundant. However, the main idea is that a short command should suffice, and Bard will render a message with the specified content.

A response from Bard can either be manually copied and pasted into another conversation or dispatched directly from the chat window.

Even though RCS messages are encrypted, interactions with Bard don't offer such security. Google has stated that company employees could scrutinize AI chats to enhance the service.

As highlighted earlier, Bard was implemented in a trial version of Google Messages, meaning modifications or even deletion of this feature may occur before the official launch.