Google Bard can now connect to your Google apps and services

Google's Bard AI chatbot can now search your Gmail, Docs, and Drive for responses instead of simply the web.You can now ask Bard to perform things like discover and summarize the text of an email or highlight the most significant aspects of a document you've saved in Drive using the new connection.

These connections, which Google refers to as extensions, have a wide range of use cases, but they should prevent you from having to trawl through a pile of emails or documents to get a specific piece of information. You may then instruct Bard to utilize the information in different ways, such as making a chart or a bulleted summary. For the time being, this function is only accessible in English.

While allowing Bard access to your personal email and documents raises privacy and data usage issues, Google claims that this material will not be used to train Bard's public model, nor will it be seen by human reviewers. You also don't have to enable the Gmail, Docs, and Drive connectors. Google will initially ask you to opt in, and you can opt out at any moment.

Bard's extensions aren't simply confined to Gmail, Docs, and Drive. Google also revealed that the chatbot would integrate with Maps, YouTube, and Google Flights. This means you can now ask Bard for real-time travel information, nearby attractions, YouTube videos on a certain topic, and a whole lot more. Google will make these three extensions available by default.

Google is also making significant upgrades to Bard. This features a new "Google It" option in the chatbot for double-checking Bard's replies. While the button previously allowed you to search Google for topics connected to Bard's response, it will now reveal if Bard's replies contain information that Google Search confirms or denies.

When you click the "Google It" button on a supported response, Google highlights the information verified by Search in green and any unvalidated answers in orange. You may read more about what Bard got right or incorrect by hovering your mouse over the highlighted sentences. Google is also adding the ability to continue a conversation with Bard based on a shared link, allowing you to expand on a previous query.

Google has steadily added additional features to Bard since its launch in February, including the ability to build and debug code, as well as develop functions for Google Sheets. Google Lens support was been introduced to Bard, allowing you to use the tool to brainstorm caption ideas for a photo or get more information about it.