Google I/O Highlights and New Bard AI Capabilities

Google I/O, the search giant’s annual developer conference was packed full of new announcements, particularly about their new devices and AI, where they’re playing catch-up with Microsoft and OpenAI.

Google I/O 2023 Opening Film:

Here’s the full video, as well as summary highlights from each speaker:

High energy teaser video on how they’re brining Search and AI together:

Summary Highlights

Sundar Pichai

• AI is heavily utilized to enhance product functionality.
• Introduced Magic Editor, a tool that uses generative AI for photo editing.
• Immersive View for Routes allows users to see entire trips in advance.
• Announced PaLM 2, a fine-tuned AI model for specific domains like security and medical knowledge.

Sissie Hsiao

• Bard, an AI tool, can generate visual responses and funny captions based on images.
• Bard is now available in 180 countries and supports Japanese and Korean.
• With PaLM 2, Bard’s skills in math, logic, and reasoning have improved significantly, helping developers with programming tasks.

Aparna Pappu

• Generative AI can be used in Google Slides for image generation from a text prompt.
• Introduced a feature called Sidekick, which reads and processes documents for suggestions.
• AI will play a larger role in collaboration tools in Workspace with Duet AI.

Cathy Edwards

• Generative AI is being integrated into Google Search to provide more comprehensive results.
• AI-powered snapshot provides quick information on a search topic.
• Introduced conversational mode for follow-up questions in Search.
• A waitlist is available for US users to try the new search features.

Thomas Kurian

• AI advancements are also coming to businesses, with generative applications available on Vertex AI.
• Vertex AI speeds up large-scale training workloads and reduces costs.

Josh Woodward

• Introduced Project Tailwind, an AI-first notebook that creates personalized AI models based on given materials.

James Manyika

• Two new ways to evaluate images are being added to Google Search.
• AI-generated images will include metadata and markup for context.

Sameer Samat

• Major update to Find My Device will support a range of devices.
• Introduced Unknown Tracker Alerts to alert users of unrecognized tracking tags.

Dave Burke

• Generative AI wallpapers will make Android phones more personal.
• Android’s guided customization will be combined with Google’s generative AI.

Rick Osterloh

• Announced the Pixel 7a and Google Pixel Fold, which combines Tensor G2, Android innovation, and AI.
• The Pixel Fold features a triple-rear camera system and AI with Tensor G2.

Roses Yao

• Introduced Pixel Tablet, a tablet engineered by Google for home use.

Sundar Pichai

• AI is undergoing a significant shift, and Google is approaching it responsibly.
• Google is looking forward to collaborating with the developer community to unlock more AI opportunities.

10 New Google Bard AI Capabilities

Here’s a high level summary of the Bard AI Chatbot announcements, in a downloadable PDF format:

If you’re wondering how Google’s new Palm 2 model (powering Bard) stacks up vs OpenAI’s GPT-4, check out this article: The AI Battle Heats Up – Google’s Palm 2 vs OpenAI’s GPT 4

What were your thoughts on the Google I/O event – any personal highlights or features you’re really looking forward to? I’m keen on trying out the Bard partner integrations (similar to ChatGPT Plugins) and also AI integrations into Google products like Drive, Sheets, etc. to see how well these streamline data access and analysis.