Google Bard Isn't Available in Any European Union Countries and Canada (9to5google.com) 20
At I/O 2023 earlier this week, Google announced that it's expanding its AI chatbot Google Bard to 180 countries. However, what Google didn't mention is that Bard still isn't available in the European Union. From a report: 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."
Google vs Canada (Score:3)
Google and the Canadian government are currently in a pissing match [globalnews.ca] about charging for news links, so Google is probably not in a mood to do Canadians any favours.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, IF it's a favor. AFAIK this hasn't been determined yet.
Re: (Score:3)
The EU is currently looking at Google and AI in general too.
It's available in the UK which still has GDPR rules.
Re: (Score:2)
Not being subject to half-assed AI chatbots seems to be doing Canadians a favor. I mean, Bard has so many issues that maybe Google is doing Canadians a favor.
Re: (Score:2)
Canada for EU membership, eh?
Well, Ottawa sees themselves as more of a European country than anything like the United States, so, don't rule it out.
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Canada does share a land border with an EU country - we border Denmark.
Inconrect, here is the full list (Score:5, Informative)
Is it so hard to give the original information? ...)
https://support.google.com/bard/answer/13575153?hl=en/ [google.com]
At least this list is correct as some European countries do not belong to EU and are also not in the list (for example Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine,
Hot take (Score:5, Insightful)
Probably (Score:3)
Because it can't comply with the GDPR. As for Canada maybe they have something similar?
Re: (Score:2)
That was my guess, but remember that it *IS* a guess.
Uncle Bard (Score:1)
He never was the sharpest tool in the shed.
Google Bard in Canada (Score:1)
Good in a way (Score:4, Interesting)
Finally they're putting their money where their mouth is -to some extent at least- instead of constantly whining, huffing and puffing and threatening they will soon pull out of the market if this or that inconvenient legislation isn't changed to their advantage. We'll have a chance of seeing how that actually goes.
This might even bee a boon for the competitors who enter this market and make do with the local rules.
From what I hear Bard is not the brightest candle on the cake anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Probably. I mean, Google
Re: (Score:2)
Finally they're putting their money where their mouth is -to some extent at least- instead of constantly whining, huffing and puffing and threatening they will soon pull out of the market if this or that inconvenient legislation isn't changed to their advantage. We'll have a chance of seeing how that actually goes.
Good. I'm tired of the GDPR popups, too, because if they were doing it right in the first place, they wouldn't need those popups in most read-only contexts at all.
From what I hear Bard is not the brightest candle on the cake anyway.
Friendly advice, you should stop your posts one sentence earlier, because saying stuff like this undermines your point. We're talking about autocomplete on your phone, but spicier.
GDPR (Score:3)
You suspect GDPR, but I think more likely is about the EU AI Act [artificial...enceact.eu]