The Swahili language has been added to Bard, Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) chat service.
Bard is an experimental service from Google that functions like ChatGPT. Bard sources its information from the web.
“The launch of Bard in Swahili is a major milestone as it allows Bard to reach even more people in Africa, where approximately 150 million people speak Swahili. This makes Bard more accessible to everyone in the region, and we believe that it has the potential to be a powerful tool for creativity and learning. We are excited to see how people in the region use Bard to explore their ideas and discover new things,” said Rachael Ndichu, Language Manager at Google.
The expansion makes Bard available in over 40 languages and 59 new countries and territories, with Swahili being the first African language to be included.
“We’re excited that this is Bard’s largest expansion to date – we see its global availability as a great democratiser of knowledge,” said Dorothy Ooko, head of Communications and Public Affairs, SSA, Google.
“That’s why we created Bard: to help you explore that curiosity, augment your imagination and ultimately get your ideas off the ground – not just by answering your questions, but by helping you build on them,” said Ooko in a statement.
In 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) designated July 7 as World Kiswahili Language Day.
