Google’s AI Chatbot, Bard Now Available In Swahili

Google’s AI chatbot, Bard, is now available in Swahili, making it accessible to over 200 million people in Africa who speak the language.

This expansion of the AI chatbot includes more than 40 languages in 59 new countries and territories. Other widely spoken languages, such as Chinese, German, Spanish, Arabic, and Hindi, have also been included in the conversational AI service.

Google stated that the addition of more languages and territories would contribute to making Bard more inclusive and safer through feedback from a broader range of users.

“We’re excited that this is Bard’s largest expansion to date – we see its global availability as a great democratizer of knowledge,” said Dorothy Ooko, Google Head of Communications and Public Affairs, Sub-Saharan Africa.

“The launch of Bard in Swahili is a major milestone as it allows Bard to reach even more people in Africa, where approximately 150 million people speak Swahili. This makes Bard more accessible to everyone in the region, and we believe that it has the potential to be a powerful tool for creativity and learning. We are excited to see how people in the region use Bard to explore their ideas and discover new things,” said Rachael Ndichu, Language Manager at Google.

According to Google, the expansion includes new features that allow users to customize their experience, enhance creativity, and improve productivity.

Users can now access Bard in their preferred language, with text-to-speech enabled in eight languages.

New updates to Bard include the ability to listen to responses, available in over 40 languages, allowing users to hear Bard’s responses by selecting the sound icon. This feature assists users in understanding the correct pronunciation of words or listening to poems or scripts.

Users can also adjust Bard’s responses by selecting from five different options: simple, long, short, professional, or casual. This feature is currently available in English and will soon expand to new languages.

Google has introduced four additional functionalities to enhance user productivity. Among these updates, users can now pin and rename their discussions within Bard, making it easier to access conversations containing essential information or ideas for future reference. Furthermore, Bard users can share their responses with friends using shareable links, facilitating collaboration on projects and obtaining feedback on ideas.

Additionally, Google has introduced the capability to upload images with prompts to Bard, expanding the range of content that users can utilize within the platform.

Bard’s rival, ChatGPT, is also capable of communicating in several languages, including but not limited to English, Kiswahili, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic.