Google Bard is the company’s attempt to join the race for the generative large language model (LLM) crown. Compared to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which also powers Bing Chat, Bard is pretty limited, though. It still gets pretty simple prompts wrong, and it doesn’t have some of the capabilities that its big competitor has. That’s partially changing today, as Google has announced that Bard can now help you with programming and software development.

The new Bard capabilities make it possible to use the chatbot for code generation, debugging, and explanations. Google says you can ask Bard to write brand-new code, but it’s also possible to optimize code for speed or efficiency. The tool is also capable of fixing broken code, including some of its own if it doesn't work.

If you’re just an Excel expert looking to improve your functions, Google Bard now has you covered with this, too. Google is also adding a simple way to export text and code right to Google Colab, the company’s tool for developers that lets them write and execute Python code right in the browser.

Google says that Bard supports “more than 20 programming languages including C++, Go, Java, Javascript, Python and Typescript,” though at press time, the company didn’t provide a comprehensive list of all supported languages. The company also warns that Bard is still in early stages and like with other answers, code it produces may not work or might not give you the expected results. Google advises to double check code produced by Bard for bugs and vulnerabilities before you use it.

When you use Bard, keep in mind that Google may use your questions and Bard’s answers to improve the AI, which is something that ChatGPT and others do, too. You should probably not ask for help with any code for secret projects you’re working on for your company.