Harnessing Google's Bard API: A Comprehensive Guide
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Google Bard
Google Bard has quickly gained popularity, though some users find it less effective than ChatGPT. If you haven't experienced Google's latest AI chatbot, now is the time to dive in. Excitingly, you can engage with Bard through a reverse-engineered API.
Image credit: Author & Midjourney
To access Google Bard from certain regions, you might need a VPN due to geofencing regulations. Numerous reliable VPN services are available; for instance, ExpressVPN is highly recommended.
Section 1.1: Understanding the Bard API
Typically, to interact with Google Bard, you'd visit bard.google.com and use its chatbot interface. When you submit a question or command, the input is sent to an AI model, which responds accordingly. This process is known as "inference," where the AI model executes tasks based on your input.
Until recently, if you wanted to perform inference from Python code or Google Colab, you were out of luck, as Google has not provided an official API for Bard. Fortunately, developers have successfully reverse-engineered the Bard API by analyzing the inference processes on the Bard website.
With this unofficial Bard API, accessing Bard is now feasible from anywhere with just a few lines of code. Let’s explore how to implement this.
Section 1.2: Getting Started with the Bard API
When you access the Bard interface, the website generates an authentication token to verify that you're a legitimate Google account holder. To utilize this token for interaction with the AI model, follow these steps:
- Go to bard.google.com and sign in with your Google account.
- Right-click on the page in Chrome or Firefox, then choose “Inspect” from the context menu. For Safari, enable “Show Develop menu in menu bar” under Preferences > Advanced.
- In the Inspect window, select “Application,” then navigate to “Storage.” Here, you’ll find the necessary data, including the “__Secure-1PSID” token. Copy the token's value, which consists of a long sequence of characters.
Finding the authentication token is crucial for access.
Keep your authentication token secure, as it's your personal key to Google Bard. With the token in hand, you can interact with the Bard API. Here’s a sample code snippet to get you started (replace 'ENTER YOUR AUTH TOKEN HERE' with your actual token):
from bardapi import Bard
import os
os.environ['_BARD_API_KEY']="ENTER YOUR AUTH TOKEN HERE"
answer = Bard().get_answer("What is ChatGPT?")['content']
print(answer)
Use this Colab link to experiment with the Bard API.
Make sure to substitute 'xxxxxxxxxx' with your auth token and adjust the question as desired. If you encounter a timeout error, consider adding a timeout parameter to the Bard object to allow more time for a response. Here’s an example with a 30-second wait:
from bardapi import Bard
import os
os.environ['_BARD_API_KEY']="ENTER YOUR AUTH TOKEN HERE"
answer = Bard(timeout=30).get_answer("What is ChatGPT?")['content']
print(answer)
The first video provides a comprehensive overview of how to use the new Google Bard API for free, demonstrating practical applications and setup.
The second video dives into using the Bard API with Python, showcasing how to create a Bard clone.
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