The most popular Siri clone, Google Assistant, is on the way out in lieu of the newer and shinier Google Bard AI.
An AI chatbot more like OpenAI’s ChatGPT than Apple’s basic Siri, Google Bard is capable of answering questions by searching the web. While not entirely accurate, the assistant should be more useful than Google’s current assistant system.
As pointed out by 9to5Google, the long-running Google Assistant is being dethroned by Google Bard AI on Android phones. No, the Assistant won’t just be updated with Bard’s tech. That brand is dead and buried, just the way Google likes.
For current Bard-equipped Assistants, the welcome message has changed. Instead of calling itself “Assistant with Bard”, the AI chatbot now just says, “Hi, I’m Bard.” Okay, whatever you like, computer guy.
Furthermore, all mentions of Assistant in the app’s settings have been replaced. Instead of “Assistant Settings”, there’s now “Bard Settings”. However, it doesn’t seem that everything is changing when it comes to the new chatbot branding.
For example, it seems that — at least for the time being — interacting with the tool still requires users to shout “Hey, Google” at their Android phone or Google Nest device. At the time of writing, Google has yet to force users to say, “Hey, Bard!” But let’s be honest, it’s probably coming.
Launched way back in 2016, Google Assistant was already a rebranded version of a past technology: Google Now. In recent marketing, the company has already changed the name of the tech to “Google AI”, attempting to capitalise on the ongoing AI trend.
Google isn’t alone in this. Microsoft has also introduced its Bing AI chatbot to its second-rate search engine, much to everyone’s dismay. It seems that AI chatbots are here to stay. Well, at least until they’re deemed unprofitable. After all, who’s going to put up with ads in a chatbot window?