Here’s how Bard will function within Google Messages

Over the last year, Google has been delving into artificial intelligence, incorporating the Bard chatbot into a variety of apps and services. Now, it appears that Google Bard is making its way to Google Messages, delivering its useful AI features to more users.

9to5Google caught a glimpse of how the AI chatbot will work in the newest beta version of the Messages app. It appears that you will be able to initiate RCS talks with Bard in Messages directly from the “New Conversation” screen. It’s not your typical conversation; rather, it’s a solo one with the Bard logo and name prominently displayed, as if you’re speaking with a virtual “penpal,” which also happens to be the feature’s codename.

Based on a few code snippets, it appears like Bard is preparing to be your all-in-one Google Messages assistant for things like message writing, image identification, language translation, and book recommendations. Apparently, Bard learns from your location and previous conversations to provide you with accurate replies. When Bard responds, give it a thumbs up or down with a long press. You may also copy, forward, and star the response.

In contrast to standard RCS chats, Bard talks lack end-to-end encryption. According to Google, these discussions are used to enhance its offerings, particularly Bard’s intelligence. Thus, avoid sending Bard any private or delicate messages if you don’t want a reviewer to read your chats.

Google states that data from Bard chats is retained for a period of 18 months. If you want to turn off Bard activity, the data will remain active for a full week. However, you have the option to manually manage or use the delete button on this data.

The app does not currently have this feature enabled. It’s quite probable that Google will abandon the concept after some testing. However, this might be the next big thing for apps like Smart Reply, which provide you with those clever prompts for responses depending on the context of the discussion.

Bard is more of an AI chatbot than merely a machine-learning model for quick responses. When you integrate it with a messaging app, it becomes more capable of managing your conversations. Now, Google would likely need to teach Bard a little bit more before letting it run wild with the responses. Users may therefore need to divulge some sensitive data, including text history, for the AI to get a hold of the response they’re giving.