Google"s Bard is still trying to catch up with OpenAI"s ChatGPT and especially with Microsoft"s Bing Chat for generative AI development. Today, a new report says that Google is developing a way for its Pixel phones to access Bard without having to go through a web browser.
9to5Google reports that it has examined code from an unnamed app from Google that shows the company is working on an Android-based homescreen widget for Bard. There"s no word on what kind of form this widget could take, although the article speculates it could be a stand-alone app, or one that"s incorporated into the Google Search app. The article adds that the new Bard widget would be an exclusive feature for its own Pixel smartphones and the upcoming Pixel Tablet.
Of course, Microsoft has already added Bing Chat to its mobile Bing app, along with Bing Chat functionality in Skype and Edge. Google"s efforts would simply bring Bard close to what Microsoft has in place for Bing Chat.
Keep in mind that this information has not yet been confirmed by Google so take it with some grains of salt. We will almost certainly learn more about Google"s plans for Bard, and a ton of other stuff, next week at the Google I/O dev conference on May 10.