Google has finally released its AI chatbot, Bard, in the European Union after resolving concerns raised by the Irish Data Protection Commission.
The U.S. technology giant had delayed the release of the chatbot, which is a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, due to insufficient information about how it would respect the EU's privacy rules, specifically the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Google has made changes to Bard to increase transparency, control, and choice for users.
The user interface has been updated to include a new privacy hub, and the chatbot will now be available in over 40 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, German, and Spanish.
Google has had "very productive conversations" with privacy regulators in Europe, not just the Irish Data Protection Commission, and the company expects this to be an ongoing dialogue.
The Irish regulator, the deputy commissioner and spokesperson Graham Doyle, said that the company had made changes to Bard and agreed to carry out a review and provide a report to the DPC after three months of Bard becoming operational in the EU.
Bard's main competitor, ChatGPT, was temporarily banned in Italy in March over concerns it could violate privacy standards.
ChatGPT is also under investigation in several countries, including Spain and Germany.
European data protection agencies are currently scrutinizing the various privacy issues that generative AI tools raise under the umbrella of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).
Google's decision to postpone the launch of Bard in the EU is a recent example of U.S. tech firms holding off on rolling out products in the bloc.
Facebook's parent company, Meta, launched its rival to microblogging platform Twitter, Threads, in more than a hundred countries but held off on offering the platform in the European Union due to upcoming regulatory uncertainty linked to the Digital Markets Act.
In summary, Google has resolved concerns raised by the Irish Data Protection Commission and has made changes to its AI chatbot, Bard, to increase transparency, control, and choice for users.
The chatbot will be available in over 40 languages and is a competitor to OpenAI's ChatG