This year’s Google I/O was perhaps one of the most interesting we’ve seen in a long time. Google’s presentation this year centred on artificial intelligence and how the business is incorporating generative AI into its products. We also witnessed some interesting hardware news, with Google finally releasing its first tablet and foldable smartphone. Here’s a quick rundown of what was announced at Google’s I/O 2023 keynote.
Generative AI on Google products
The presentation began with Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressing the audience and establishing the tone for the evening. Pichai stated that with AI expected to rise dramatically in 2022 and 2023, it is now Google’s chance to demonstrate what the business has been working on. To begin, integrate Generative AI with Google products. Gmail, Google Maps, Google Photos, and more services are included.
Google is utilizing generative AI in Gmail to introduce a new service called Help Me Write. Google is releasing an AI-powered tool called “Help Me Write,” which will create emails for users as an extension of the smart recommendations that we now see on Gmail. All you have to do is provide a prompt, and AI will compose your emails for you.
The business is introducing Immersive View when travelling on Google Maps. This is essentially a 3D simulation of your trip, displaying the precise path you will be travelling, as well as traffic, weather, AQI, and anything else you need in a 3D graphical representation of the actual location. According to Pichai, this function will be available in 15 locations by the end of 2023.
With a new tool dubbed Magic Editor, Google Photos is beefing up its editing capabilities. Magic Editor, as an extension of Magic Eraser, will take photo editing to the next level. We will be able to physically move objects inside a frame, modify the color temperature, make objects more detailed and crisp, and resize objects in a picture.
Google also debuted PaLM 2, the company’s latest Generative AI model, during this year’s I/O. PaLM 2 is Google’s most advanced AI model to date, and it has been developed to be more useful and powerful in order to enable all of Google’s new AI capabilities. PaLM 2 integrates two Google projects: DeepMind and Gemini, with DeepMind being Google’s AI research lab and Gemini being the most recent AI foundation model. PaLM 2 is currently available for developers to use and test.
Google Bard
Because the evening’s theme was artificial intelligence, Google couldn’t afford to miss out on its big gamble, Google Bard. There is no longer a queue for Google Bard, which is now available to all users for free. It is now accessible in 180 countries and cities in English, with Japanese and Korean versions on the way. Google Bard is now driven by the company’s new Generative AI model PaLM 2, and with the latest version, Google is making Bard stronger at conversational AI. According to the business, Bard has learned over 20 programming languages to assist customers with software creation. According to the firm, Bard can now not only provide you with the code but also assist you in better understanding these languages.
In Bard, Google has also added a new function. The responses from the AI can be exported via a button to Google Docs or Gmail. Therefore, with just one click, you can simply add your Bard answers to emails or papers. Neat. Additionally, Bard now has a dark mode, and the business is improving this conversational AI model even more.
For instance, Google stated during the speech that responses and instructions on Bard will now be more visually appealing. This indicates that the firm is also incorporating additional visual components into Bard’s comments, such as graphics and movies. Along with Google Lens integration, more features will be added to Google Bard in the upcoming weeks.
Additionally, Google Bard will be able to help you find objects on a map, and it will soon be able to produce graphics and images for you thanks to an integration with Adobe Firefly. Quite cool.
AI Integration in Google Workspace
Google is therefore adding many AI smarts to its workspace apps utilising PaLM 2 and Bard. This features a Google Docs Help Me Write function. Here, all you have to do is open a Google Doc file and instruct AI to create your document. Open the Bard option, for instance, and write in questions like “help me finish this essay,” to enable AI to provide you with options when you are stuck when writing an essay.
The business is introducing a Help Me Organize feature powered by Bard to Google Sheets. Ask Google Bard to do it for you, for instance, if you have data about various things and want to format it in a table in Sheets! Many folks who struggle with numbers and tables would benefit from this.
AI integration in Google Slides will assist users in visualising their slides, further customising them, and even creating presentation notes for presenters! All of these new Generative AI functions will be tested beginning in the US next month.
Generative AI Integration In Google Search
AI is also being used by Google to improve its Search. Google demonstrated how the use of Generative AI would improve its already robust Search during the keynote. Users will be able to do more in-depth searches. A fresh AI-powered result with a snapshot-like appearance will be shown at the top of the page. This will have all the necessary details, references, and multimedia to make things easier for you to grasp. Additionally, there will be a choice for prolonged recommendations that will activate conversational mode, allowing you to keep asking questions and responding to them with fresh ideas.
Generative AI in Android
We also witnessed several significant Android announcements. For instance, Google is placing less emphasis on AI and more on the Android ecosystem with Android 14. The business stated that it is releasing a separate WhatsApp app for WearOS as a result of WearOS’s success. You may use this programmer to send voice notes, reply to messages, and write texts all from your wristwatch.
