Google has held a new edition of its Google I/O event, its annual developer conference, where the company presents its main innovations and developments.
Google has launched new phones, tablets, and Artificial Intelligence developments at the new edition of Google I/O.
In the 2023 edition, alongside the new mobile devices, the undisputed star has been Artificial Intelligence. Its name was mentioned dozens of times by Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, and AI is now at the center of the company’s product and service development. For the company, it is strategic to position itself as a standard-bearer of this new technology in a context where more and more companies are working with it and competing to implement and commercialize their AI-based services.
That’s why, at Google I/O, most of the announcements focused on showing how AI can improve access to knowledge and expand user learning. Also, how people will be able to boost their creativity and productivity, and how developers and companies will be able to build their own products and services based on the new features provided by AI.
In this video, you have access to the two-hour main keynote, where Sundar Pichai, along with other prominent company executives, presented the innovations discussed in this article.
As a summary, these are the main announcements made by Google at the annual I/O developer conference:
New Google Pixel 7a
Regarding devices, Google took advantage of the annual developer conference to showcase the latest phone in its A series, the Google Pixel 7a, which is now available in stores at a starting price of 509 euros.
This is a phone with Google’s Tensor G2 processor, which also includes the Titan M2 security chip. With an aluminum case and 100% recycled material, it features facial unlock, a new 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens—as well as a 13-megapixel front camera—and a super high-resolution zoom of up to 8x. It also has 8 GB of RAM, a Smooth Display screen of up to 90 Hz, and wireless charging.
As expected, the Google Pixel 7a also uses Artificial Intelligence. For example, it includes Assistant features to make and receive calls, and the screen tells you who is calling and why before you answer. The Clear Calling feature optimizes your caller’s voice and reduces background noise, while the Wait Time feature gives you an estimate of how long you’ll be on hold when calling a company.
Google Pixel Fold and Google Pixel Tablet
Google has introduced the new Google Pixel Tablet, which also features the Tensor G2 and has an 11-inch screen that adapts exceptionally well to Google’s own tools. Its price will be around 550 euros.
Alongside it, the company also presented the Google Pixel Fold, its foldable phone, which will be priced at 1,899 euros and, for now, will only be sold in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
Google Bard and PaLM 2
Another major innovation presented by Google is the almost imminent launch, in 180 countries, of Google Bard, its intelligent chatbot that competes with ChatGPT.
For now, access can be made through this link and must be used in English, although the launch in Japanese will also take place in the coming days. The company has stated that more than 40 languages will be added throughout this year.
Although Bard is still an experiment, which for now will not replace Google’s search engine, the main keynote at I/O 2023 made it clear that its development is strategic for the company and that it is its main Artificial Intelligence project.
For example, Google Bard—which debuts a new dark mode—now integrates Google Lens, so the AI can identify all kinds of objects or people and automatically generate text about the image sent.
Adobe Firefly, the main competitor to the DALL-E image-generating AI, is also integrated, and Google Bard will soon be available in almost all Google applications and services, allowing it to export text directly to Gmail or Google Docs, for example.
Many of its improvements are based on PaLM 2, Google’s new language model, which is more powerful and supports more than 100 languages. Thanks to this, Google Bard will be able to perform intelligent reasoning and provide more appropriate answers in all areas, including mathematics and programming.
AI applications in Google products
The development of Artificial Intelligence will reach many Google applications in practical ways, bringing new features. For example, as already mentioned, Gmail will allow you to write emails automatically thanks to the new “Help me Write” feature.
This won’t be the only Google service to debut new features thanks to Artificial Intelligence. For example, Google Maps will soon incorporate 3D route visualization.
Meanwhile, Magic Editor will provide Google Photos with a very simple tool that will improve users’ images almost automatically.
Google Search, of course, will also receive improvements. Thanks to the use of generative AI, searches can be performed in a “simpler and smarter” way. Alongside the search results, snapshots with related information will be displayed, and the new conversation mode in searches will allow you to have a dialogue with the search engine to refine queries and improve the experience.
AI will also improve the experience for users of the Android mobile operating system, who, for example, will be able to create personalized wallpapers from emojis. The company has introduced beta 2 of Android 14, as well as new native apps for Wear OS, the operating system for smartwatches.
