Yesterday at Google I/O, the tech giant’s annual developer conference, we learned a dizzying amount of new information about its artificial intelligence advancements, plus saw numerous products released such as the Pixel 7a, Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet.
Google Bard, the company’s AI chatbot, also saw expansion to over 180 more countries and territories—but Canada was left out. What’s the deal? Well, iPhone in Canada has some answers for you according to Google.
The company said as they responsibly develop Bard, they are progressively broadening its availability to include more English-speaking countries and regions. Google aims to eventually extend Bard’s reach to more regions, countries, and languages over time.
Recognizing that Bard is still in its early stages, Google added it wants a thoughtful and responsible deployment of this new technology, which is why the initial launch was exclusively in the US and UK and only in English.
Google says it plans to incrementally extend its experiment, making Bard accessible in an increased number of countries. This expansion will allow it to build upon the feedback they have received to date.
The company says it is actively collaborating with experts and policymakers to ensure Bard’s compliance with local regulations when it comes to the potential of generative AI.
Google says once it has made substantial headway with these engagements, it will extend Bard’s availability to even more countries and additional languages. According to Google, they have yet to finalize expansion plans for Canada but will provide updates as soon as they become available.
It’s no surprise there’s a Google Bard delay in Canada, given rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT is under investigation by the federal government over privacy concerns.
In late March, François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Industry, Science and Technology, requested an immediate meeting with Canada’s AI Advisory Council to discuss the ethical application of artificial intelligence within the country. One week later, ChatGPT was under investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Yesterday, Canada also missed out on the launch of the Pixel Fold as well, alongside many other countries. So don’t feel too bad, just yet. Waiting for the latest tech seems to be a trait of being Canadian, it seems.
For now, if you want to use Google Bard in Canada, one workaround is to use a VPN such as NordVPN and change your location to the U.S. Once this is done, you can try Bard in Canada. But for everyone else, when they visit bard.google.com, they’ll get the message, “Bard isn’t currently supported in your country. Stay tuned!”.
