Google's Bard gets even smarter with Gmail and Docs integration

Google's AI chatbot, Bard, has received an update that allows it to search and provide answers based on the content in users' Gmail inboxes, Google Docs, and Google Drive storage.

This new integration expands Bard's capabilities beyond web-based searches, enabling users to ask Bard to find specific information within their email messages or documents.

The integration offers various use cases, such as summarizing the content of an email or highlighting essential points in a stored document. Users can then use this information for various tasks, such as creating charts or bulleted summaries. The feature is currently available in English.

While the integration may raise concerns about privacy and data usage, Google assures users that it won't use this information to train Bard's public model, and human reviewers will not have access to it. Additionally, users have the option to opt in or disable the integrations with Gmail, Docs, and Drive at any time.

To use the feature, users can ask Bard to search within Gmail by preface their questions with "@mail" or simply request information related to specific topics within their emails or documents.

Google is also expanding Bard's capabilities to include integration with Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Flights. This means users can request real-time flight information, discover nearby attractions, access YouTube videos on specific topics, and more.

The addition of Bard's "Google It" button allows users to verify the accuracy of Bard's answers by checking whether the information aligns with Google Search results. Google plans to further expand Bard's integrations to include more Google products and external partners in the future.