Google to Reportedly Bring Bard AI to Pixel Devices Via Homescreen Widget

Google is reportedly developing a feature to bring its Bard AI tool to Pixel devices. It’s believed that the added support will come in the form of a homescreen widget that will leverage the AI system.

Google’s Bard AI integration into Pixel devices is being seriously considered as a Play Store application Google has been discovered. 9to5Google has decompiled the APK files and found various lines of code suggesting Bard’s future lies on Pixel in some regard.

According to the code that’s been parsed through, Google is developing a Bard AI widget for its Pixel devices. However, the report notes that it’s unclear whether Google intends to integrate Bard into the Google Search app as well or if it will be a standalone app for users to download.

Bard AI is Google’s solution and competitor to similar tools like Open AI’s ChatGPT. While Microsoft has been making waves, injecting GPT-4 into Edge and Bing, Google has been playing catch up with Bard.

As of now, there’s no telling how the homescreen widget will function outside of the assumption that users will be able to type in a prompt and have the AI respond in various ways. Google has been steadily upgrading its Bard AI chatbot in order to be able to fulfill more advanced requests with further accuracy.

While Bard may be on its way to Android, it does appear as though Google may be looking to reserve access to Pixel devices as an exclusive feature. Though, the reasoning may run in tandem with the fact that Google is still previewing Bard in a very limited setting. While access to ChatGPT on Bing and Edge is accessible to many markets, Bard isn’t currently available in Canada. Even for those in the U.S., Google requires users to join a waitlist prior to gaining access.

It’s also worth noting that there is no guarantee that Google will move forward on bringing a Bard widget to Pixel devices. The APK code could be a means of testing features. However, it’s likely we’ll have a better understanding of Google’s vision during its upcoming Google IO conference, starting May 10th.