A chatbot tool designed by Google is an accompaniment, and will not replace its search engine.

Newstalk Tech Correspondent Jess Kelly was speaking as Google Bard launched in a number of countries, including Ireland.

Bard is available in more than 40 languages and over 230 countries and territories.

It describes itself as "an experimental, conversational AI chat service developed by Google."

Bard can answer questions, generate text such as poems, code, scripts and emails - as well as translate languages.

Jess told The Pat Kenny Show it is not the same as Google Search.

"There's this misconception that Chat GPT and Google Bard should be able to answer any question you have," she said.

"That is not the case, and Google has been eager to stress this: it's not replacing Google Search.

"This is a tool that you have... for a whole host of different things.

"If I said, 'Suggest five technologies to talk about on national radio that would appeal to an audience'... it'll come up with suggestions.

"It would offer you creative solutions.

"Say I was going to my sister's wedding and they asked me to make a speech, I could put in, 'Write a speech about my sister, who's 38, broke my S Club 7 CD when was nine': you feed in the data and it forms it.

"So it's a creative tool, rather than the search engine".

Google Bard

Jess said you can also deep-dive into topics.

"If something comes up that you know is either not accurate or if you want more information... at the bottom of Bard's answer is a little button called 'Google It'," she said.

"If you click on that it will open out three suggested questions, and bring out a pop window from the search engine".

A man about to search on a Google Images search bar on a smartphone. Picture by: Stephen Frost / Alamy Stock Photo

Jess said the company will keep your Bard and Search data separate.

"They also do say your data isn't going to be associated with your other Google accounts," she said.

"So they're not going to build up a profile of 'Jess Kelly was watching a YouTube video of Atomic Kitten and now she's asking me to write a thesis'.

"There's no connectivity at this moment," she added.

Google has said Bard is still under development.

"It is still learning, and it may sometimes make mistakes. However, it is a powerful tool that can be used for a variety of purposes," the company said.

It has also warned that Bard "may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn't represent Google's views."

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Main image: A man looking for information using artificial intelligence Google Bard. Picture by: JYPIX / Alamy Stock Photo