Get Started with Google Bard

Last updated on March 29, 2024

Google Bard is Google’s version of an artificial-intelligence chatbot. Users can interact with Google Bard by entering questions or prompts into a text field and receive human-like responses. Google Bard was designed as a writing assistant and is best used for prompts that require text responses, though it is still under development and may be capable of much more in the future. This tutorial covers how to sign up, log in, and enter a prompt using Google Bard. To learn more about Google Bard and artificial intelligence in education, review the CTLD Resource page on Generative AI.

Currently, there is a waitlist to use Google Bard. To sign up for the waitlist, you must have a personal Gmail account. The wait time to use Google Bard varies from 24 hours to weeks, depending on how much traffic the site is experiencing. After signing up for the waitlist, “Bard, an AI Experiment” will email you when Google Bard is available for you to use. 

Directions

Set Up an Account with Google Bard

1. Type bard.google.com into your browser search bar.
2. Click the Join waitlist button.
3. Type your Google email into the text field.
4. Click the Next button.
5. Type your password into the text field.
6. Click the Next button.
7. Click the Join waitlist button in the lower-right corner of the screen.
8. Click the Got it button in the lower right corner of the screen.
9. Wait for Bard, an AI Experiment to email you. Waiting times for this email can vary from 24 hours to weeks.
10. Navigate to your gmail.
11. Select the email from “Bard, an AI Experiment”.
12. Click the Take it for a spin button.

Use Google Bard

1. Enter your prompt or question into the text field at the bottom of the screen.
2. Select the Submit button to the right of the text field to submit your entry.
3. Click the pencil icon to the left or your prompt in the chat window to edit your prompt. 
4. Click the thumbs up or thumbs down buttons to indicate whether it was a good or bad response
   • Clicking the bad response button will prompt you to leave feedback as to why.
5. Click the new response button to generate a different response to the same prompt. 
6. Click the Google it button to open a new tab and google search your prompt.
7. Click the drop down menu in the upper right corner of Bard’s response in the chat to view other drafts of responses to the same prompt. 
8. Click the Reset chat option on the left navigation menu to delete all chats from the screen. Your prompts can still be viewed by clicking on “Bard Activity”.
9. Click the “Bard Activity” option on the left navigation menu to view your previous prompts.
   • This page also offers you the ability to deactivate storing your activity and the ability to delete your activity.