If AI can be integrated into social media apps, assistants, and word processors, why not your messaging app? Going along with the AI-fication of the tech landscape, Google is working to integrate Bard AI right into Google Messages, apparently to help you “write messages, translate languages, identify images, and explore interests.” Here’s what you need to know about it.
Bard AI in Google Messages!
First caught by X user AssembleDebug, Google looks to be working on making Bard AI a permanent assistant for its default messaging app, allowing you to start RCS chats with others, get assistance to craft messages, translate, and identify images, among other AI things.
Image: AssembleDebug (X) Image: AssembleDebug (X)
It may be helpful to have an AI companion do the heavy lifting for you and write messages that get your point across, and help you understand what the other party is saying. However, this move by Google may not be completely free of controversy.
Privacy concerns
Although taking assistance from Bard AI will be completely optional while starting RCS chats, your conversations with Bard will not be end-to-end encrypted. Moreover, as mentioned in one of Bard’s descriptions, “By default, Bard chats… and related data will be saved for 18 months. If Bard Activity is off, chats will only be saved for 72 hours.”
So basically you shouldn’t say anything to Bard AI that you don’t want Google and its reviewers to see and use. As stated in the same description image, although the reviewed data is disconnected from your account, it is retained with Google for up to 3 years. Bard will also use “your location and past chats to provide you with better answers”.
Needless to say, there are a lot of privacy concerns here. But the feature is yet to arrive in Google Messages, which is some consolation to users worrying over Google snooping into their messaging app.
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