Joining in on the generative AI bandwagon, Google announced the launch of Bard in Arabic, its largest expansion since it launched in English in March earlier this year. Google also announced a set of new features to increase Bard’s accessibility and helpfulness.

Bard is designed to enable people to use their creative potential by developing and brainstorming new ideas, learn more about the world by exploring topics from different perspectives, and boost productivity by simplifying and summarizing dense content, explained a statement from the tech company.

Powered by Google’s latest language model ‘PaLM2’ which has a multilingual understanding of information, Bard can understand questions in over 16 Arabic dialects including Egyptian colloquial Arabic and Saudi colloquial Arabic, and in turn share responses in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Bard also understands input that includes Arabic and another language in tandem (known as code-switching), and user interface that supports right-to-left script.

Commenting on the launch, Najeeb Jarrar, Regional Director of Marketing at Google MENA said: “We're excited to give all Arabic speakers the opportunity to experiment and collaborate with Bard, our generative AI experiment that helps people expand their creativity, learning, and productivity. Our engineering team and linguist experts worked together to enhance Bard’s capabilities in Arabic, which includes Bard’s user interface that supports right-to-left script. Bard can also understand different dialects and levels of Arabic language proficiency to help more Arabic speakers around the world”.

“As part of our bold and responsible approach to AI, we’ve proactively engaged with experts, policymakers, and regulators on this expansion. And as we bring Bard to more regions and languages over time, we’ll continue to use our AI Principles as a guide, incorporate user feedback, and take steps to protect people’s privacy and data,” Jack Krawczyk, Director of Product Management at Google, added.