Google Vice President Sissie Hsiao introduces Google’s new AI-based chatbot, Bard, at the Google I/O 2023 event on May 10. (Google)

Google chose Korean and Japanese as the first service languages for its artificial intelligence-based chatbot, Bard, to expand its presence to compete with ChatGPT, which is backed by Google’s rival Microsoft.

“They're incredibly dynamic and exciting regions, which are at the cutting edge of an opting technology,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday, explaining the reason for launching Bard services in Korean and Japanese in advance of the 40 other most spoken languages.

Google opened Bard to users in 180 countries from Thursday, after expanding the service to the general public in the United States and United Kingdom on March 21.