Tech evangelists are always looking for the next big thing, and over the past few years we've seen everything from the metaverse to blockchains get over-hyped and ultimately under-deliver. Right now, AI is dominating the conversation, but this time it feels like there's something different — while we probably won't appreciate the full impact until looking back, we're already seeing some incredibly impressive AI-based tools doing things that feel positively human. Everyone's rushing to show how they can embrace AI for enhancing their own services, and Google was quick to join the fray with its announcement of Bard in early February. If you've been wondering what all the hype is about, your chance to try Bard for yourself has finally arrived.

Google is currently accepting signups for its Bard waitlist from users in the US and the UK, with more nations to follow. Don't let the wait-word scare you, though, because we've already heard from plenty of people who have gotten their invites. This wave follow Google opening signups to Pixel Superfans earlier this week.

Once you get yours, you'll be able to start throwing queries at Bard's large language model and seeing how it responds. Google's very clear that this is a work in progress, and the whole point of this trial is to get some feedback on exactly where Bard is failing. That's trickier than it sounds, because Bard is already polished enough to certainly coem across as very authoritative in its response — even when it's telling you nonsense. You can see this sort of issue in the example below, which Google points out gets some of those scientific plant names wrong.

google-bard-plant-response
Source: Google

Bard's also not yet to the point where it's going to be writing code for your CS class, like we've seen some users employ ChatGPT for, or lean from your past queries — Google's limiting how much context Bard picks up from past queries, although that's one area where we expect to see big improvements once the company's comfortable loosening the reins a little.

As early testers start playing with Bard, we definitely expect to see lots of people sharing some of the more impressive responses the engine outputs — and we're sure some pretty funny ones, too, where Bard just utterly misses our expectations. We're already starting to put together some of the best. If you don't want to miss out on all the fun, go ahead and get yourself registered for Bard right now.