On the finish of I/O, Google’s annual developer convention on the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the corporate had stated “AI” 121 instances. That, basically, was the crux of Google’s two-hour keynote — stuffing AI into each Google app and repair utilized by greater than two billion folks world wide. Listed here are all the key updates from Google’s large occasion, together with some extra bulletins that got here after the keynote.
Gemini 1.5 Flash and updates to Gemini 1.5 Professional
Google introduced a model new AI mannequin known as Gemini 1.5 Flash, which it says is optimised for velocity and effectivity. Flash sits between Gemini 1.5 Professional and Gemini 1.5 Nano, which its the corporate’s smallest mannequin that runs regionally on gadget. Google stated that it created Flash as a result of builders wished a lighter and cheaper mannequin than Gemini Professional to construct AI-powered apps and providers whereas protecting a few of the issues like an extended context window of 1 million tokens that differentiates Gemini Professional from competing fashions. Later this 12 months, Google will double Gemini’s context window to 2 million tokens, which signifies that it is going to be in a position to course of two hours of video, 22 hours of audio, greater than 60,000 traces of code or greater than 1.4 million phrases on the identical time.
Undertaking Astra
Google confirmed off Undertaking Astra, an early model of a common assistant powered by AI that Google’s DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis stated was Google’s model of an AI agent “that may be useful in on a regular basis life.”
In a video that Google says was shot in a single take, an Astra consumer strikes round Google’s London workplace holding up their telephone and pointing the digicam at varied issues — a speaker, some code on a whiteboard, and out a window — and has a pure dialog with the app about what it appears. In one of many video’s most spectacular moments, the appropriately tells the consumer the place she left her glasses earlier than with out the consumer ever having introduced up the glasses.
The video ends with a twist — when the consumer finds and wears the lacking glasses, we study that they’ve an onboard digicam system and are able to utilizing Undertaking Astra to seamlessly stick with it a dialog with the consumer, maybe indicating that Google may be engaged on a competitor to Meta’s Ray Ban good glasses.
Ask Google Images
Google Images was already clever when it got here to looking for particular photos or movies, however with AI, Google is taking issues to the subsequent stage. If you happen to’re a Google One subscriber within the US, it is possible for you to to ask Google Images a fancy query like “present me one of the best picture from every nationwide park I’ve visited” when the characteristic rolls out over the subsequent few months. Google Images will use GPS data in addition to its personal judgement of what’s “greatest” to current you with choices. You can even ask Google Images to generate captions to put up the photographs to social media.
Veo and Imagen 3
Google’s new AI-powered media creation engines are known as Veo and Imagen 3. Veo is Google’s reply to OpenAI’s Sora. It could produce “high-quality” 1080p movies that may final “past a minute”, Google stated, and might perceive cinematic ideas like a timelapse.
Imagen 3, in the meantime, is a text-to-image generator that Google claims handles textual content higher than its earlier model, Imagen 2. The result’s the corporate’s highest high quality” text-to-image mannequin with “unbelievable stage of element” for “photorealistic, lifelike photos” and fewer artifacts — basically pitting it in opposition to OpenAI’s DALLE-3.
Massive updates to Google Search
Google is making large adjustments to how Search essentially works. A lot of the updates introduced at this time like the flexibility to ask actually complicated questions (“Discover one of the best yoga or pilates studios in Boston and present particulars on their intro affords and strolling time from Beacon Hill.”) and utilizing Search to plan meals and holidays gained’t be out there except you decide in to Search Labs, the corporate’s platform that lets folks check out experimental options.
However a giant new characteristic that Google is looking AI Overviews and which the corporate has been testing for a 12 months now, is lastly rolling out to tens of millions of individuals within the US. Google Search will now current AI-generated solutions on prime of the outcomes by default, and the corporate says that it’ll carry the characteristic to greater than a billion customers world wide by the top of the 12 months.
Gemini on Android
Google is integrating Gemini instantly into Android. When Android 15 releases later this 12 months, Gemini will pay attention to the app, picture or video that you simply’re working, and also you’ll be capable to pull it up as an overlay and ask it context-specific questions. The place does that depart Google Assistant that already does this? Who is aware of! Google didn’t carry it up in any respect throughout at this time’s keynote.
WearOS 5 battery life enhancements
Google is not fairly able to roll out the most recent model of it smartwatch OS, however it’s promising some main battery life enhancements when it comes. The corporate stated that Put on OS 5 will devour 20 % much less energy than Put on OS 4 if a consumer runs a marathon. Put on OS 4 already introduced battery life enhancements to smartwatches that help it, nevertheless it might nonetheless be loads higher at managing a tool’s energy. Google additionally supplied builders with a brand new information on learn how to preserve energy and battery, in order that they’ll create extra environment friendly apps.
Android 15 anti-theft options
Android 15’s developer preview might have been rolling for months, however there are nonetheless options to come back. Theft Detection Lock is a brand new Android 15 characteristic that may use AI (there it’s once more) to foretell telephone thefts and lock issues up accordingly. Google says its algorithms can detect motions related to theft, like these related to grabbing the telephone and bolting, biking or driving away. If an Android 15 handset pinpoints certainly one of these conditions, the telephone’s display screen will shortly lock, making it a lot tougher for the telephone snatcher to entry your knowledge.
There have been a bunch of different updates too. Google stated it might add digital watermarks to AI-generated video and textual content, make Gemini accessible within the aspect panel in Gmail and Docs, energy a digital AI teammate in Workspace, eavesdrop on telephone calls and detect in case you’re being scammed in actual time, and much more.
Compensate for all of the information from Google I/O 2024 proper right here!
Replace Might 15, 2:45PM ET: This story was up to date after being printed to incorporate particulars on new Android 15 and WearOS 5 bulletins made following the I/O 2024 keynote.
