Google has finally confirmed the existence of their highly anticipated chatbot AI project, named Bard, a blog post from CEO Sundar Pichai has revealed. The project aims to merge the vast knowledge of the world with the power, intelligence, and creativity of Google’s language models. Bard will function as an experimental conversational AI service, and it draws on information from the web to offer fresh, high-quality responses.

However, unlike ChatGPT from OpenAI, Bard will not be immediately available to the general public. Instead, Google is starting with a lightweight version of their language model for dialogue applications (LaMDA) for a select group of users before gradually scaling up. Pichai stated that they will gather feedback from users and conduct internal testing to ensure Bard’s responses are of high quality, safe, and grounded in real-world information.

Chatting with internet users is just a small part of Google’s larger AI plan. Pichai stated that AI-powered features in Search will soon be available, which will simplify complex information and provide multiple perspectives in an easy-to-digest format. The commercial API running on LaMDA, called Generative Language API, will start inviting developers to explore the system next month.

Pichai did not reveal many specific details about Bard’s capabilities, but he did mention that it would serve as a launchpad for curiosity, helping people explain complex scientific concepts to others. More information about Bard will be disclosed during Google’s “Google Presents” event in Paris on February 8th.