Bard update adds better email summarization and image sharing

Google’s latest update to Bard allows the AI chatbot to offer better and more thorough summaries of your recent emails as well as share the images uploaded to a conversation.

On Tuesday, Google added a new entry to Bard’s “Experiment updates” page, dated October 23, 2023. First up in the new patch notes, the company shares that those who use the recently launched Workspace extension will find that Bard is able to “summarize more emails at a time” for a more complete picture of your inbox. To use Bard with your emails, turn on the Workspace extension and add “@Gmail” to your prompt.

It seems many Bard users wanted to be able to use the chatbot to catch up on their most recent emails. To make this easier, Google is making sure Bard properly understands when you ask only about the latest emails.

Meanwhile, the company is also changing the way that sharing a Bard conversation works. Before, sharing a conversation would include the original text prompt and the rest of the chat history, but any images you uploaded would not be shared. After this latest change, when someone opens your shared Bard conversation, they’ll also see the images you included. You can see an example of this in action.

Google says that the change is meant to allow others “to better appreciate your creative process and continue the conversation with Bard in their own way.” It’s worth noting that Google says that any files uploaded to Bard are deleted when you delete the conversation. So, if you accidentally share a Bard conversation with images you don’t want to be seen, you can delete the conversation altogether.

2023.10.23

Bard can now summarize more of your emails

• What: When you use the Workspace Extension, Bard can now summarize more emails at a time. It can also better understand when you ask for recent emails.
• Why: We are taking a small step to improve quality and make the Workspace Extension more useful by summarizing more of your emails. Sometimes you just need an update, so we’re improving the way Bard can understand when you need the latest emails.

Your shared conversations now support uploaded images

• What: When you share a conversation that has an image as part of the prompt, the image will now also be visible.
• Why: Adding an image to your prompt can take your creativity to new heights. Now that others can see the image you used in your prompt, they will be able to better appreciate your creative process and continue the conversation with Bard in their own way.