Not Quite a Global Rollout: Google Avoids Launching ChatGPT Rival Bard in EU

pcmag.com:

Google this week announced its ChatGPT competitor Bard is expanding from the US and coming to over 180 countries and territories. But curiously, the company is not bringing the chatbot to any countries in the European Union. 

Google released a support document (Opens in a new window)with the names of every market in which Bard is currently available. However, each 27 member state of the EU—including major markets such as Germany and France—are left off the list. 

The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But as the German publication WinFuture points out(Opens in a new window), the reason likely has to do with the EU's privacy law, GDPR. It’s possible Google still can’t guarantee Bard fully complies with the privacy regulation, which requires tech companies to disclose how they process, store, and use data collected from local users. If a company fails to comply, they can face hefty fines. 

In the case of Bard, the chatbot can collect any information you submit and potentially use the same data to train itself to come up with better responses. A service like Bard can also attract millions of users, storing data on each one.

Interestingly, if you ask Bard why it isn’t available in the EU, the AI chatbot will also blame GDPR, along with a lack of European language support, and the need for further testing. 

“The EU has some of the strictest privacy regulations in the world. Google is working to ensure that I comply with these regulations before I am made available in the EU,” Bard told PCMag. In addition, the program only supports the English, Japanese, and Korean languages.

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s rival program, ChatGPT, is already attracting regulatory scrutiny in Europe. In March, Italian regulators