Google's parent company Alphabet says it is rolling out its artificial intelligence chatbot Bard in Europe and Brazil. It is the product's biggest expansion since its March launch in the US and the UK and heats up the rivalry with Microsoft's ChatGPT.

Both are examples of generative AI that can respond to questions in a human-like way. Bard's launch in the EU had been held up after the main data regulator in the bloc raised privacy concerns.

The Irish Data Protection Commission said that the tech giant had not provided enough information about how its generative AI tool protects Europeans' privacy to justify an EU launch.

The company said it has since met the watchdogs to reassure them on issues relating to transparency, choice and control.

In a briefing with journalists, Amar Subramanya, engineering vice president of Bard, added that users could opt out of their data being collected. Subramanya however declined to comment on whether there were plans to develop a Bard app.

Google has also now added new features to Bard, which apply worldwide. These include the ability for the chatbot to speak its answers back to you and for it to respond to prompts that also include images.

He said users can now change the tone and style of Bard's responses to either simple, long, short, professional or casual. They can also pin or rename conversations, export code to more places and use images in prompts.