When I walked into the Shoreline Amphitheater on Wednesday, I thought I was at Google IO, the company’s annual developer conference. But after hearing CEO Sundar Pichai and several of his other Google executives talk about new products and services, I felt the event should be renamed Google AI.
In fact, the first 75 minutes of the two-hour event saw artificial intelligence, especially generative AI (GAI), not only a key component of Google Bard, the company’s new conversational AI chat service, but soon all The focus was on how it was integrated into the service. Services like Search, Photos, Maps, and Google Docs. But even the devices portion of the event was largely focused on AI at the heart of the new hardware products announced at the event. Google announced a $499 Pixel 7A smartphone, a Pixel Tablet starting at $499, and the company’s first foldable smartphone, the $1,799 Pixel Fold.
be in a good position to compete
It’s hard to predict what companies and how products will perform when it comes to new paradigm shifts like GAI, but Google is already the No. 1 search engine, so it’s a good place to compete. in a position. As the Google executive emphasized during the event, search is a great starting point for his AI queries. In addition to providing links, Google uses search replays to enhance links with short articles, called AI snapshots, that it creates on the fly to answer user questions, including questions the user poses in conversational language. We are in the process of building it. Kathy Edwards, Google’s vice president of engineering, said in a presentation that when parents ask Google which national parks are best for vacations with kids and dogs, Google provides written answers in addition to search results and vacation planning resources. Demonstrated how to get
Google also announced that Bard is now available for anyone to try at bard.google.com without waitinglist.
Maps and photos
Google Maps is getting AI-generated routes, including generating a video preview of your bike ride before you get on the bike. Google is also adding his AI photo editing features to his Google Photos, making it very easy to move objects and people around in a photo or turn a cloudy day into a sunny one. increase. Google already offers a Magic Eraser tool for Pixel phones that makes it easy to remove objects from photos without affecting what’s behind them. This AI photo editing is great, but it makes it much easier to manipulate photos and create “deep fakes”. Google also showed how it uses AI to describe what you want to see in a photo and automatically generate it as a drawing or photo-like thing. I’m wondering if I could make a photo of me shaking hands with Albert Einstein or George Washington, but I’m afraid it could be used to create a fake photo that could slander someone .
think about what went wrong
Speaking of fear, many, including Google executives, worry about the downsides of AI. “AI must be bold and responsible” in a way that “addresses challenges while maximizing positive benefits to society,” James Manica, Google’s vice president of technology and society, said in a blog post. rice field. He acknowledged that there is a “natural tension between the two,” adding that “we believe it is possible and indeed important to productively embrace that tension.” At least they have an idea of what could go wrong. When Henry Ford was building his 1908 Model T, did he ponder the unintended consequences of mass-produced automobiles?
phone and tablet
Google announced three new hardware products, including the $499 Pixel 7A Google lent me ahead of the event. It’s hard to get excited about a new smartphone, but if you’re in the market, a water-resistant Android phone with a very good camera, sleek design, wireless charging, and a fast processor at an affordable price. the way you can get it. It’s a bit smaller than the Pixel 7 and slightly less powerful, but it’s $100 cheaper, and after a few days of testing, it feels and performs like a premium phone.
Google also announced an 11-inch tablet starting at $499 with 128GB of storage or $599 with 256GB. Powered by the same fast Google Tensor G2 processor as Pixel smartphones and running on Android, it has a very similar interface to Android smartphones and the same AI technology built into the latest versions of Android. Anyone who pre-orders the phone gets a free dock, which is both a high-quality speaker and charger. This turns the tablet into a very useful home smart display while it is docked and can be easily removed from the dock for portable use. Tablet.
The most expensive, but most interesting new addition is the $1,795 Pixel Fold. When folded, it has a 5.8-inch screen, which is not much different from a typical smartphone. However, when unfolded, it reveals a 7.6-inch display. This is slightly smaller than his 8.3-inch display on the Apple iPad mini. Not only is the tablet-sized screen great for watching videos, but side-by-side viewing makes multitasking easier. With the phone folded, he can also use the high-quality rear-facing camera to take selfies during photo shoots, using one screen to frame the shot. One smart application Google has demonstrated is phone translation. The person you are talking to can read text in their language on the outer screen, and you can read text in your language on the other screen.
I’ll report more when I get a chance to test this foldable smartphone, but as far as I can tell, the only big downside is the price. The Fold costs $800 more than the Google tablet and Google 7 phone combined, but it’s probably a better investment for most people.
Disclosure: Larry Majid is CEO of ConnectSafely, a non-profit internet safety organization backed by Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other technology companies.
