Google has announced a significant update to its Bard AI chatbot, enhancing its capabilities to understand and interact with YouTube video content. This update, detailed in a recent blog post, marks a considerable advancement in Bard’s functionality, offering users a more in-depth engagement with YouTube videos.
Previously, Bard’s YouTube extension, launched in September, was limited to finding specific videos. The latest update extends Bard’s abilities to answer questions directly from the content of YouTube videos. For example, users seeking instructions on making olive oil cake can now inquire about specific recipe details, like the number of eggs required, directly from Bard.
Accompanying Bard’s update, YouTube has also introduced new AI features aimed at improving the user experience. These features, currently in the testing phase for some YouTube Premium members, include organizing comments into topics using AI and introducing quizzes for educational content to enhance learning outcomes.
Users can activate the YouTube extension on Bard by accessing the Bard homepage, clicking on the puzzle icon, and toggling the YouTube option. This feature allows users to request summaries of YouTube videos by simply pasting the video link on the Bard homepage.
Google has expanded Bard’s accessibility to teenagers in several countries, implementing age-appropriate protections to ensure a safe and beneficial experience. This expansion allows teens to use Bard for various purposes, including homework assistance, preparation for major milestones, and quick topic understanding.
In response to these developments, Bard’s rival, ChatGPT, has recently made its voice feature available to all users, allowing queries to be asked aloud. This feature, initially exclusive to paid users, is now accessible on all smartphones globally.
Bard’s new capabilities represent a part of Google’s ongoing efforts to integrate AI more deeply into its services. This includes a broader integration with Google’s consumer applications like Gmail, Docs, and Maps. Furthermore, Google is working on its next-generation foundation model, Gemini, expected to be multimodal and trained using YouTube video transcripts.
Simultaneously, YouTube is preparing to launch its own set of generative AI tools. These include the Dream Screen feature, which allows the creation of AI-generated video backgrounds, and Dream Track, an experimental feature enabling the creation of original music snippets with AI-generated vocals.
