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Andrew Martonik / Digital Trends
Android, Wear OS, Pixel, and more. Google has some of the world’s biggest and most well-known brands under its belt, and Google I/O is its annual software celebration that sets the stage for everything the company has planned for the coming year. This year looks to be no less packed than usual, and the keynote speech at the start of the event is, as always, when we’re likely to see the biggest announcements and news.
Android 15, Wear OS 5, and Google Gemini are at the top of the list of announcements we expect to hear during the Google I/O keynote speech, but as always, keep an eye out for some surprising reveals we weren’t expecting. While unlikely to come as full announcements, we may also hear about the upcoming Google Pixel 9 range and Pixel Watch 3.
Here’s everything announced at Google I/O 2024. Keep checking back often, as we’ll update this article throughout the show as more news comes in.
Gemini AI rules the roost
Google
It should come as a surprise to no-one that AI is taking center stage at this Google I/O. It seems as if the world has talked about nothing but for this entire last year, and Google has never been a company to ignore a rampant trend like this. Google is fully in its “Gemini era”, according to CEO Sundar Pichai, so expect to see AI touching every part of this year’s announcements.
Over 1.5 million developers use the AI model formerly known as Bard, and Gemini is available to over 2 billion users on Android. AI Overview, Gemini’s integration with the main Google search engine, is coming to the U.S. and other countries soon. Gemini will be added to Google Photos as well, adding extra search abilities through the Ask Photos function. Ask it “what’s my license plate again” and it’ll search through your photos to find the most likely answer, stopping you from needing to manually look through your photos to find it yourself. Ask Photos will launch in the summer.
Notebook LM, spotlighted at last year’s Google I/O, will also have Gemini introduced into it, pushing its AI smarts to even higher levels. During the presentation, we were shown it being asked to break down science using basketball as an example. This sort of personalization for learning is likely to become more prevalent as we move into the future.
Gemini 1.5 Pro will be available for all developers and advanced users from today, in over 35 languages.
Gemini Agents can do it for you
Gemini isn’t just for asking questions to, and Google is working hard to push it beyond simply being a more personable search engine. Agents is a big part of that, and something that Google is experimenting with. The idea at the center of Agents is using AI to, well, do things for you.
In theory, you could send Gemini a picture of a pair of shoes, and tell it you want to return it, and Agents would scramble into action, arranging the entire process for you. This could also be used to plan vacations, work trips, or any needs surrounding those.
Project Astra
Google
Another experimental project for Google is Astra. This ties Gemini into cameras, and allows it to understand and interpret the world around it. In the demo we saw, Astra was able to identify a speaker, break down which part of the speaker made noises, and read code and explain it. Astra could also be used to add AI into a pair of smart glasses, as was shown off in the demo.
This isn’t something we haven’t seen before — ChatGPT has shown off something similar — but it’s hard to say Astra isn’t still impressive. Unfortunately, there’s no timeline on when this is likely to be released, and for how much.
Generative AI
Generative AI is the most mainstream AI out there, and Google isn’t ignoring this most important element of AI. Its newest AI model for creating images is called Imagine 3, and Google claims it’s the best model its made so far for creating images with words, but also at understanding prompts.
Google
It’s not just about images too, and Google has been working hard on creating AI models for generating music, and Veo, an AI model that can create some very impressive HD videos. Prompts can be used to edit existing videos, so you don’t need to recreate videos from scratch every time, and the video examples shown definitely look better than most videos created by AI. Google is lending the power of Veo to Donald Glover, who is in the process of creating a movie using this new AI model.
Image and video tools can be found in ImageFX and Video FX.
Generative AI will also be used in Google Search, thanks to a custom build of Gemini. AI Overviews are key to this, helping you to speed up your research rather than having to jump into various different websites. Multi-step reasoning will break down your requests, tapping into Google’s indexes to provide you the most relevant information. It can even help you to plan a trip.
One of the most impressive elements of AI Overview is the ability to use it to ask it a question during Google Lens and get a customized and relevant overview that answers the question posed.
AI Overviews is available across the U.S. from today.
Gemini and Workspace
Gemini has been available in Google’s Workspace for a little while now, and Google is ready to push that to the next level. The Gemini-powered side panel will be available next month. Gemini is also coming to Meet in more languages.
Gmail is ripe for even more AI. As you might expect, Gemini will be rolling out to Gmail. Ask it to summarize information from you kid’s school, and it can do that, or just sum up long emails so you don’t have to. Type a question or prompt, and Gemini will be able to answer that for you, or perform an action. For instance, it will be able to bring together separate quotes for building work and bring them into a list for you. Smart replies is also getting an upgrade with Contextual Smart Replies. These abilities roll out to Workspace Labs users this summer.
Scarily, you may soon be working with an AI. Google showed off an “AI teammate”, named Chip, who was in charge of monitoring resources for the team. Chip was available to answer questions in chats in Google Workspace, and was capable of remembering when decisions had been made, and the progress of the specific project mentioned.
The Gemini app
Google
Effectively an upgraded Google Assistant, you can communicate with Gemini in all the same ways as you would with Google Assistant, including text and voice, but you’ll also be able to use video and a more conversation way of speaking to it, known as Gemini Live.
Gemini Gems are smaller, customized versions of Gemini that can be specialized into various niches. So if you use Gemini in specific ways over and over, you can create a Gem to save time when you need it again and again. So if you want to use Gemini to tell you stories, you can create a Gem that specializes in just that, so you can dive in whenever you want to.
The Gemini app is capable of doing a number of things you expect from Gemini, including being able to plan a trip and set out an itinerary. This function rolls out this summer.
AI and Android
Google
Google is using AI to redefine how you use your smartphone, and that begins on Android. Android will be the first mobile OS to include search an advanced AI model, and that makes it the platform of choice if you’re an AI nut.
Circle to Search was the first part of this to come out, but this year, Google will also be adding Gemini as your standard AI assistant on Android, and adding more AI functions under the hood.
Think of Gemini on Android as being Google Assistant on steroids. It will be able to contextually understand the content on your screen, including being able to figure out summaries from YouTube videos, create images for replies, and answer any questions you might have — without ever leaving the screen you’re looking at.
Accessibility is a key feature offered by AI. Talkback feature has been around for a while, but now, thanks to Gemini, images can be deeply described in detail, giving those with sight impairments an easier way to use their phones. And since Gemini is available on device, it’s fast and quick.
Gemini will also be able to help deal with spam and scam callers. Gemini will listen in to your calls and give you a warning when it detects suspect activity — and since it’s all on-device, the information won’t leave your phone. This feature is still being tweaked though, and won’t be available for a while yet.
This is a developing story. Make sure to refresh this page to see the latest news.
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