On December 6 Google unveiled Gemini, a new large language model (LLM) that has three different modes: Nano, Pro, and Ultra. The new Gemini Pro variant now powers Bard in the United States and over 170 other countries, but the European Union and the UK are left out of the mix for now. So, what gives?
It’s mostly down to regulation
While Google Bard launched in the UK at the same time as the US, the service came months later to the European Union. The same story is unfolding again with Gemini, though this time the United Kingdom is also left in the dark.
It’s unclear what the regulation hurdles are getting in the way of the UK, as Bard on PaLM 2 didn’t have this problem. We do know that Google is in active discussions with the UK’s Safety Insitute and approval should reach sometime next year. As for the European Union, the GDPR (EU regulators, basically) has to sign off on new LLMs and ensure they pass all regulations in place for AI. This takes a bit of time, unfortunately.
When will Google Bard get Gemini in Europe?
Google will bring a preview of Bard Advanced to Europe in 2024, which will run on Gemini Ultra — a step forward from the Gemini Pro LLM powering it right now. Unfortunately, we have no specifics on what time of the year it will reach.
Is Google Bard still available in Europe?
The good news is that Google Bard is still available in select parts of Europe, it’s just that it will run on the older PaLM model instead.
