If you ask Bard for a recipe, it can give you one, but it might contain meat unless you explicitly indicate that you are vegetarian. That’s because Bard, Google’s AI chatbot, doesn’t currently have the ability to remember users’ preferences or details. So you would have to mention that you are vegetarian every time you want a recipe. But that’s expected to change soon. ChatGPT, another chatbot technology, already has a feature that can personalize chats.
In the future, users will be able to tell Bard not only their culinary preferences, but also details like their location, age, marital status, occupation and more. This data could help Bard provide more relevant and useful responses. For example, Bard would be able to understand that a trip to Hawaii is not as easy for a European as it is for a U.S. citizen, given the user’s location information. In addition, by knowing marital status and the number and ages of children, Bard would be able to recognize that a family with young children has different travel needs than single people or families with teenagers.
Google is expected to introduce a user interface called “Memory” or “Reminder” that will allow users to control what information Bard should store. For example, a user could type in, “I’m an elementary school teacher.” Then the chatbot could respond accordingly and provide educational resources appropriate for elementary school students. Similarly, users could tell Bard that they prefer short answers or visual content such as images or videos. Of course, there is also the option to change or delete incorrect or outdated information.
A similar feature is already offered by OpenAI ChatGPT. Through so-called “Custom Instructions”, users can create profiles, but this feature is currently reserved for ChatGPT-Plus users only.
What’s also exciting is that Bard, upon user request, will be able to learn from previous conversations and account settings. Specifically, if users have shared their location, this data will likely be used as part of profiling. In addition: with the latest extensions giving Bard access to Gmail, Google Drive and more, we can assume that these features could also contribute to user profiling.
