New EU Regulations Will Be A Thorn In Google Bard’s Side

Earlier this week, the European Union passed a new set of rules focused on safe and transparent AI. Coincidentally, Google’s rollout of its Bard chatbot was met with a roadblock in Ireland as the Irish Data Protection Commission has stopped the launch of Bard in the country. 

Amidst the new EU regulation, it seems that Bard will not only face issues from the DPC, but also from other data privacy regulators across Europe. In the bill signed yesterday, companies are now required to institute a new set of safeguards, as well as provide better transparency on what is done with user data. 

Coming back to the Irish DPC’s block of Google Bard, the regulator stated that the company had not put in a detailed briefing prior to the chatbots launch. While Google has requested the required paperwork from the regulator, this is sure to push back the launch of Google Bard, which was slated for its EU release this week.

To make things worse for the ChatGPT challenger, the chatbot has received a score of 75 out of 100 for its lackluster privacy policies. In a report by the Common Sense Privacy Program, Bard received a warning note from the watchdog due to the various privacy issues with Bard’s privacy policy.

Set against the stringent regulatory environment in Europe, Bard’s flimsy user protection may not stand a chance. Under the new regulation, chatbots, like Bard and ChatGPT, are required to disclose where content is AI-generated, as well as have safeguards against generating illegal content. However, it seems that this isn’t going to stop Google. A spokesperson from the company stated, “We said in May that we wanted to make Bard more widely available, including in the European Union, and that we would do so responsibly, after engagement with experts, regulators and policymakers.”

Even if it comes to changing something fundamental in Bard, it seems that Google is not going to be stopped from rolling out the chatbot in the EU. This is no surprise, considering how easily the tech giant flaunts EU rules, as seen by its recent €2.42 billion fine due to antitrust violations.