Since December 6, Google has offered an updated version of Bard powered by Gemini Pro, its new language model announced as superior to OpenAI’s GPT-4. Gemini Pro is available in 170 countries… but France is not one of them.
An air of deja vu? When Bard was launched in May 2023, Google decided to exclude France. The reason ? European legislation, which forced it to adapt its chatbot to the GDPR, so that member states are in control of the use of their data. We had to wait until July 13 to see Google Bard land in the European Union, almost two months.
On December 6, Google announced Gemini, its new super multimodal language model designed to transform the enterprise. Gemini is presented as superior to OpenAI’s GPT-4, can comment on what is shown to it in real time and should eventually be integrated into all Google products. “The beginning of an era” according to Google, which begins with an integration of Gemini Pro, the intermediate model, with Bard. Google basically recognizes that Bard has never been a good rival to ChatGPT, but Gemini will allow it to catch up.
At first, Gemini only speaks English. Google indicates, however, that it is available in 170 countries, which could suggest that it would work in all countries where Bard is available. However, in the famous list of 170, there is no country from the European Union.
Gemini in France, it will undoubtedly be for 2024
To get to the heart of it, we tested two configurations:
Without VPN, we asked Google Bard what language model it uses (“What LLM are you using?”). First observation: the Bard logo now displays the inscription “PaLM 2” below its icon. This is the language model derived from LaMDA, the “predecessor” of Gemini. In its response, Google Bard doesn’t really respond. When we insist, he then indicates that he uses Gemini Pro, then changes his mind, explaining that he was wrong… A new hallucination characteristic of Bard.
Same question with a VPN configured in the United States. We ask Google Bard for its language model (“What LLM are you using?”). The Bard logo no longer shows PaLM 2 and the chatbot makes jokes, e.g. writing “LOL, I got it wrong earlier today” (LOL, I was wrong earlier). By pushing our question, we manage to get him to say that he sometimes uses LaMDA for simple questions, but that he switches to Gemini Pro as soon as he needs to be creative. Bard doesn’t seem to have implemented its language model change perfectly, but it does seem to have pivoted to Gemini Pro here.
When will Gemini Pro be available in France? Bard speaks of “early 2024”while the Google press release indicates “in the near future”. We will undoubtedly have to get used to this new situation: web services will undoubtedly often arrive late in the European Union. But Google should not delay too long in deploying Gemini in France.
In 2024, the web giant is also preparing a paid version of Bard, called Bard Advanced, with access to Gemini Ultra, its language model capable of seeing and hearing.
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