Yesterday at Google I/O 2023, it was announced that Google Bard would be undergoing a massive expansion, bringing the AI chatbot experiment to 180 countries. However, what Google didn’t mention is that Bard still isn’t available in the European Union.
On a support page, Google details the full list of 180 countries in which Bard is now available. This includes countries all over the globe, but very noticeably not any countries that are a part of the European Union. It’s a big absence from what is otherwise a global expansion for Google’s AI.
The reason why isn’t officially stated by Google, but it seems reasonable to believe that it’s related to GDPR. Just last month, Italy briefly banned ChatGPT over similar concerns that the AI couldn’t comply with the regulations. Google also slyly hints this might be the case saying that further Bard expansions will be made “consistent with local regulations.”
Bard is currently available in 3 languages and over 180 countries and territories. We’ll gradually expand to more countries and territories in a way that is consistent with local regulations and our AI principles.
The absence was noted yesterday by one of our own team members, as well as by WinFuture, who asked Bard itself about the lack of support and the AI chatbot said that GDPR is the reason. Of course, being a language model, Bard has no actual answers to give that aren’t public knowledge to start with.
Another notable omission is Canada, which is not listed as supported at this time.
As long as you’re in a supported region, Google Bard is now available in English with no waitlist. The chatbot also yesterday picked up support for Japanese and Korean languages, with more said to come.
More on Bard:
- Google Bard drops waitlist in 180 countries, adds dark theme, Gmail and Docs export
- Bard AI is now available for Workspace accounts
- Google working to bring Bard AI to Pixel phones as a homescreen widget
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