Google pushes staff to pilot AI chatbot that codes at lightning speed to outpace ChatGPT
Google Gears Up Internal Testers for Bard’s New Coding Assistant
Google has opened a beta for staff to experiment with Bard’s upcoming programming features, a move that signals the company’s intent to compete with Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
What the Memo Says
In an internal memo circulated Friday, product manager Paige Bailey announced the new capabilities:
- Source‑code completions – let Bard auto‑finish code snippets.
- Line‑by‑line explanations – provide a detailed walk‑through of a code block.
- Bug‑fixing – automatically detect and correct common coding errors.
- Documentation generation – create docstrings and API notes for any snippet.
Bailey encouraged Googlers to ask Bard to “write a linear regression model in Python,” “explain a code snippet line‑by‑line,” or “document a shared snippet.” Staff can copy code directly to the clipboard via a “Copy” button.
Internal Testing and Feedback
The memo made it clear that the new features are still in beta and “should not be used in production.” Staff are asked to log bugs and suggestions in a dedicated feedback channel. A Google spokesperson emphasized that internal testing is a “key part of our culture.”
Security Rules
Employees were warned not to paste confidential or privileged data into Bard. For those who need to process sensitive information, the memo pointed to an internal chatbot named “Duckie.”
Public Response: Trials and Competitors
Insider conducted its own tests of the public‑facing version of Bard. While the FAQ still claims Bard “can’t help you with coding,” the chatbot was able to generate and explain code snippets on our prompts.
Google’s public briefing stated that these coding features would be rolled out to Bard quite soon. Sundar Pichai recently reiterated this point, suggesting that the tools are already in the pipeline.
Competitive Landscape
- Microsoft GitHub Copilot – updated to integrate a ChatGPT‑style assistant.
- OpenAI ChatGPT – already offers code generation and documentation.
- Google Bard – now poised to provide comparable programming assistance.
By offering a chatbot that can write, fix, and explain code, Google aims to provide a full‑stack developer assistant and level the playing field against these rivals.
How to Join the Beta
If you’re a Google employee, simply log into the internal portal and head to the “Bard Coding Beta” section. You’ll need to spend 2–4 hours each week testing the features before the public launch. Remember, any code generated is for experimentation only and should not be deployed.
Next Steps
Google will aggregate feedback from staff and publish updates on Bard’s development road map. Stay tuned for the next public release, where these features should appear in the standard user interface.
