Did you know that Bard, Google’s answer to ChatGPT, was not open to teenagers? If a young kidnapper owned a Google account and did not meet the age requirement, Bard was inaccessible.
However, in a wednesday blog, Google announced that it is changing that. Teens of appropriate age now have access to Google Bard.
Why is Google now opening access to teenagers?
Before giving teens access to Bard, Google wanted to make sure all safety measures were meticulously implemented before allowing young people on board.
google bard
Credit: Google
“We consulted with safety and child development experts to help shape our content policies and a safety-first experience,” Tulsee Doshi, Google’s head of product and responsible AI, said in the blog post.
The search engine giant reached out to organizations like the Family Online Safety Institute to advise them on how to implement better safety measures so that teens can explore the ChatGPT alternative with boldness and brazenness.
Google also shared that it received direct feedback from teens about Bard and that they had questions about how to get the most out of their experiences with the AI chatbot. Consequently, Google launched resources such as its AI Literacy Guide to help teens navigate the generative space of AI with knowledge under their belt.
“The addition will also share an overview of how Bard Activity is used and give teens the option to turn it on or off,” Doshi added.
What changes did Google make to Bard?
In preparation for the flood of teenagers who will use the platform, Google also trained Bard to detect topics and content that are not appropriate for young users. For example, Google implemented guardrails for questions related to illegal substances.
Google Bard in action.
Credit: Google
On top of that, Google will automatically run its “double answer check” feature for teens. So when a teen asks a fact-based question for the first time, the AI will “double-check” her answer with content on the web to corroborate her answer before sharing it.
This feature will be running automatically for everyone (not just teens) soon, particularly when a new Bard user requests answers to an objective question for the first time.
Expanded Google Bard access for teens will roll out starting tomorrow in most countries around the world.
