Google’s Input/Output (I/O) conference which took place on May 10 saw Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and other senior company executives announcing a wide range of updates covering tech and gadgets, but the focus was on artificial intelligence (AI).
One of the company’s most anticipated gadgets was the Google Pixel Fold, which the company claimed had the “best camera on a foldable phone.” The Pixel Fold has a 7.6-inch screen and costs $1,799.
Google also announced its Pixel 7a and Pixel Tablet devices, which it described as “AI-powered devices engineered by Google.” While the Pixel 7a is available for purchase at $499, buyers can pre-order the other two devices. The tablet has an 11-inch display and Google pitched it as a “helpful smart home device.”
According to the company keynote, Google has been “rapidly evolving” its AI chatbot Bard, which now runs on the PaLM 2 model.
“It now supports a wide range of programming capabilities, and it’s gotten much smarter at reasoning and math prompts,” stated the company keynote.
(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)
AI features that will come to Google products include the ‘Help me write’ feature in Docs and Gmail to assist users in composing content quickly. Another feature, Duet AI in Google Workspace, will help with text-to-image generation and creating custom plans in Sheets.
Moving to larger and more complex AI models, Google announced its PaLM 2 model.
“PaLM 2 builds on our fundamental research and our latest infrastructure. It’s highly capable at a wide range of tasks and easy to deploy,” said the company.
Google also said that a next-generation foundation model, Gemini, was still in training.
Addressing the rise in AI-generated images, Google said that it was adding watermarks to its models. The company said all its AI-generated images would have metadata for identification.
The company’s users will also get to preview Labs, Google’s new Search Generative Experience, that brings generative AI to internet searches. This would include AI-generated information snapshots and shopping options.
Additionally, AI will form a major part of Google users’ Android ecosystem moving forward, as the company announced features such as Magic Compose, Cinematic Wallpapers, and Generative AI Wallpapers.
