I literally just got my hands on Bard, like right now, and stopped what I was doing so
I could try it out right away, and of course, I’m taking you along with me.
Come on, we’re jumping inside Google Bard!
Hey friends!
I’m Tasia Custode and welcome back to my YouTube Channel where I share tech tips, app
reviews, and so much Google content you’d think I have a stake in the company.
Spoiler alert, I do not.
Today we’re going to learn how to use Bard.
So, let’s go!
And by the way, if you’re wondering hmm, what is Google Bard, please go watch my other
video explaining just that, then come back here to actually jump inside Bard.
But in short, Bard is Google’s conversational AI service powered by LaMDA.
But enough with the chit-chat, let’s jump in and learn how to use Bard, complete with
a few examples!
When you first use Bard, you will agree to Google’s Terms & Privacy statement that
covers things like how your data is used, how long data is stored for, as well as some
important things to know about how this technology works.
Once you agree to those terms, a popup will appear telling you Bard may sometimes give
inaccurate responses, and that it’s aiming to get better with your feedback.
This is important to keep in mind, along with the fact that Bard is pulling in and analyzing
all kinds of data from across the internet.
It’s a true large language model, but just think about how powerful it can be since it’s
created by, well, Google.
But with that said, let’s learn how to use Bard.
Obviously, you can ask Bard basic questions, but let’s start with a more complex example
and we just have to type in our prompt at the bottom of the screen.
Let's ask Bard to write some song lyrics for us.
Can you write a love song in the style of Taylor Swift?
OK, so this took about 5 seconds to generate a song.
But let’s see how well Bard actually did.
Like this chorus doesn’t really rhyme and verse 2 is a little wordy, to say the least.
And this bridge?
“I can't imagine my life without you You're my best friend, my lover, and my soulmate
And I love you more than anything in the world”
This is definitely not a Taylor bridge, it’s more like Bard is pulling sappy love letters
from the internet.
So, we won’t be winning any Grammy’s with this song, but you get the idea of how it’s
composing the song and of how it’s generating responses in general.
Plus, if you don’t like this version of the song, or what Bard has given you, you
can click on ‘view other drafts’ in the top right and you’ll be able to pull up
alternate responses.
Just click on an alternate response to view it.
So you can use this method to write plays and stories, write essays and blog posts,
create job descriptions or applications, compose marketing emails, and the list goes on and
on.
So let’s go through some other things Bard can do.
Something that would be helpful is to have Bard write an email newsletter promoting my
latest YouTube video on Bard.
So, here’s my prompt, explaining the video is about how to use Bard.
We’ll hit enter and see how it does.
Alright, here we go.
It’s given me an email subject line, and the email starts out good enough, though it
does start to repeat itself in the third paragraph here.
So, remember, we can view other drafts.
So I’ll pick this second draft to review it.
It’s got a different subject line and it hasn’t repeated itself.
I actually like this one better.
So, Bard has done most of the work for me here.
So, of course, I can copy this over and paste it and tweak it how I see fit.
So say you want to take bits and pieces of each draft, you can do that too and there
are actually a couple of ways to copy out of Bard.
First, you can just select the text you want to copy and carry on with your regular copy
and paste.
Or, you can click on the three-dot menu icon in the bottom right of the chat and copy the
entire response.
And stay tuned for why it’s going to be important for you to copy out your responses
while you have them.
So now, naturally, let’s get Bard to write additional social posts promoting this video
- yes, this exact video you’re watching right now.
We’re inside the AI universe?
Anyway, let’s ask it to use this same style, but in a tweet.
Using this style, promote this video in a tweet.
And would you look at that - my tweet is written - "Just released a new video on how to use
Bard!
In this video, I show you how to generate text, translate languages, write different
kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.
Check it out!
- This is actually a really good promo tweet so I’m going to copy that and use it to
promote this video, just changing a bit of the text and the hashtags to better suit my
needs.
And I’m guessing I can do the same thing if I want to promote it on Facebook.
So, now write a Facebook post promoting this video.
OK and this is interesting here.
It’s written a little Facebook promo, but underneath that, it’s added some tips on
how to write a Facebook post that will promote my latest youtube video.
So, you can tell Bard is pulling from google as if someone had searched for how to write
a Facebook post promoting my latest youtube video.
So these are cool writing examples, but what else could you do with Bard?
Well, Bard kind of told us in the last example of other things it can do like translate languages.
So let’s give this a try.
How do you say “I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?”
(that’s for you, my fellow Swifties) in Italian?
And just like that, a translation is generated - Which is unsurprising, given that Google
translate has been a go-to staple in my life since its inception.
But how do we know how accurate this translation is?
Well, to be fair, I got different responses every time I asked Bard.
So, I asked a cousin of mine from Italy to tell me how good of a job Bard did with this
translation.
And, her translation was a little bit different than what Bard provided me.
However, she did say she’d understand Bard’s initial translation.
So, I would say it’s very similar to how Google translate works - it’s not going
to get it accurate every time, but your overall message will get across.
And not to have you do all of your homework using Bard, but you could also have it solve
math problems for you.
And ya, it’ll show its work.
A real estate agent received a 6% commission on the selling price of a house.
If his commission was $8,880, what was the selling price of the house?
Boom Bard shows exactly how to solve the problem, with the correct answer.
Trust me, I double-checked - which in fairness, isn’t saying much, because math is not my
strong suit.
But now I don’t have to be good at math.
But in all seriousness, if I had Bard around when I was in school, well, maybe I shouldn’t
even think of such things.
Stay in school and do your homework kids!
But, with that said, there are a few things in the Bard interface that are good to know.
The left side features your main menu.
You can click on the hamburger menu icon in the top left to collapse or expand the menu.
Right underneath that is the option to reset the chat.
I like having a chat history here, but it’s up to you if you want a fresh page for a new
query.
And remember, there’s something very important to note about your chat history.
When you close out of your Bard tab, and head back to Bard again at another time, you’ll
notice your chat has been reset.
But don’t freak out if you want your history.
You’ll actually head to Bard activity on the left.
If you click on that, a new activity tab opens up where you can choose whether bard stores
your activity, so here is where you’d turn that off if you don’t want your queries
stored.
But, under that, you’ll have all your activity and queries, organized per date.
But just so you know - at least as of right now - only your queries are saved - not the
responses generated.
So, if you’re using Bard and you like a response, you better copy that out before
you close that tab.
Got it?
So at least every query is saved for you, but it’s just found in this tab instead.
Again, the responses to the queries are not saved.
You can delete individual queries from here too or delete a custom date range of activity.
Back in our Bard dashboard, in the top right, you’ll notice your Google account profile,
and beside that is the all-familiar google apps access, so you can pop right over to
your Gmail, Gcal, Drive or what have you from here.
Now, in the chat section, there are a couple of other features to be aware of.
Remember, Google wants feedback on the answers it’s providing, so you can like or dislike
a response.
And remember how we can view other drafts of responses?
Well, you also have the option to generate a new response entirely.
And by the way, generating a new response and viewing other drafts only seems available
on the most recent response.
So if we scroll up through the older responses, those options are gone.
Last, there is a Google it button on, for some reason, only some of my responses.
So, this is handy if you want to double-check the response Bard has given you - you can
literally click to Google it.
Here, related search queries appear.
If you click on a search topic, a new google search results tab opens up where that search
query is automatically applied for you.
And we can see that yes indeed, the answer is correct.
Back in Bard, it’s also worth noting that in your chat, you can click on the edit button
to edit your query.
So by this point, you may be wondering how to get access to Bard.
Well, as of March 21st, Google has rolled out their waitlist in the US and UK.
Right now, it’s still in its experimental phase and they want a closed group of people
to test it first, before publicly releasing it.
To get on the waitlist, head to bard.google.com and click on ‘join waitlist’ From there,
you’ll sign into your Google account if you’re not signed in already.
And by the way, I was on the waitlist for just a few hours - for real - and then I got
access.
And once you’re greenlit, to access Bard, you’ll head to that same spot: bard.google.com.
And yes, I’ve included the link in the description below for you.
Plus, I’m definitely going to make a video comparing ChatGPT capabilities to Bard, so
if you’re interested in that, drop a comment below.
Until then, I’m off to chat more with my new AI counterpart.
So that’s how to use Bard.
What do you think of Bard?
Let everyone know in the comments below.
As always, thank you so much for watching.
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Thanks for watching, see ya next time.