Google Bard introduces new features for generating and debugging code

Google's AI chatbot Bard now comes with features to help developers write code.

In a blog post on Friday, Google announced new capabilities for its generative AI tool including code generation, debugging, and explanations of code for beginners.

Amidst fierce competition from OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing Chat, the new features align with similar programming capabilities offered by its rivals.

Bard's code generation works with over 20 different languages, including C++, Go, Java, Javascript, Python and Typescript. Additionally, it can help debug codes written by the user or Bard itself. By sharing the error message, Bard will help you troubleshoot the problem. For new programmers, you can share code snippets and Bard will give you a breakdown of the coding language and what that block of code does.

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The explosion of rival generative AI tools has caught Google uncharacteristically on the back foot. After declaring a "code red" in response to the November 2022 launch of ChatGPT, Google hastily launched Bard despite internal concerns that it wasn't ready. Former and current members of Google's safety and ethics teams have reported being sidelined by the tech giant's new priority to launch consumer-facing AI tools.

In the blog post announcing the new coding features, Google is quick to point out that Bard is an experiment. It may confidently give you false or misleading information.

"Always double-check Bard’s responses and carefully test and review code for errors, bugs and vulnerabilities before relying on it," said Paige Bailey, group product manager for Google Research.