Google's ChatGPT competitor, Bard, could soon be integrated directly into a host of tools like Maps, YouTube, and Gmail, bringing the power of its AI chatbots to the apps we use every day.First announced by Google at Google I/O, these Bard Extensions, as well as ChatGPT plugins, can also communicate with third-party services like Adobe, Instacart, and Zillow to perform tasks.

The 9to5Google team was able to enable an "early preview" of the Bard extensions. The preview showed how these extensions would appear in the Bard web app, but while 9to5Google was able to access the UI, it appears that "the extensions themselves do not work" at this time. This is not particularly surprising given that Google is likely still laying the groundwork to eventually enable AI-based integration.

What it does reveal, however, is what apps the Bard Extensions could interact with at launch. There could be as many as nine of these Extensions: Google Flights, Google Hotels, Google Maps, Instacart, Kayak, OpenTable, Redfin, YouTube, and Zillow.

According to 9to5Google, users will be able to enable and disable specific services from a new Extensions menu accessible through a puzzle piece icon. It will also include suggestions on how to best use the Bard Extension, with examples such as "Find a house in Atlanta, Georgia for under $1 million."

The media outlet also found signs that Google is preparing its previously announced Workspace extension for Bard. Preview prompts include "Link apps like Docs, Drive, and Gmail," and "Bard and Google Workspace will share data with each other and complete requests. The link can be broken at any time in the extension's settings. In other words, it seems that Google's AI-powered chatbots will soon be able to access your Google Docs, Drive, and Gmail.

However, it is still unclear how these extensions will integrate with Bard and when we will be able to get our hands on them. It also remains a mystery whether Google will open up the chatbot to anyone to develop extensions. But it is clear that Google is working hard behind the scenes to make its AI-powered chatbots ChatGPT-compatible.

Google first announced its plans to integrate Bard Extension at a showcase in May, but since then we have heard few details about what that entails; Google Vice President and General Manager of Google Assistant and Bard Sissie Hsiao revealed the company's ambitions in a blog post, stating:

"In the future, we will integrate the features of the Google apps and services you already use, like Docs, Drive, Gmail, and Maps, into the Bard experience, so that you We will introduce new ways to stimulate your imagination and curiosity by integrating features of the Google apps and services you already use, such as Docs, Drive, Gmail, Maps, etc. Of course, you can always control how you use these tools and extensions in your privacy settings; Bard also allows you to use extensions from external partners to access all kinds of services from across the web, something that was previously impossible."

At I/O, Google previewed this feature and revealed some of these first external partners, including Adobe. Xiao said the integration with Adobe Firefly would debut "in the coming months," but Google has not mentioned it since.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT has been steadily rolling out plugins that allow various websites to call ChatGPT to answer questions and generate answers. We tested many plugins and found some of the best ChatGPT plugins.

If Google's Bard Extensions were introduced to the apps we use every day, and without a subscription fee, Google could really take advantage. We are excited to see how well the extensions work with each release and whether they will be enough to turn Bard into a more useful tool in the fast-paced world of AI-powered chatbots.