Google I/O: Tech giant slings raft of new AI tools — So what’s coming?

During its annual Google I/O conference, internet giant Google introduced a slew of new AI-powered capabilities, with updated AI tech due to emerging across its key platforms. The annual Google I/O conference was held in California on May 10, with CEO Sundar Pichai delivering a keynote talk on the most significant changes to the company’s AI stack, among other announcements.

Google introduced the Pathways Language Model (PaLM) in August. Developers have since leveraged the language learning technique to release generative AI-related apps such as the ever-popular chatbots.

Google’s model, “PaLM 2,” was updated with increased reasoning, coding, and multilingualism capabilities as the model was trained on increasingly difficult and varied topic matters.

PaLM 2 will be available in a variety of sizes, with one iteration of the device capable of being deployed on mobile phones. Google stated that the new PaLM forms the foundation for over 25 apps and demonstrated two specific models. Sec PaLM 2 is used in cybersecurity while Med-PaLM 2 is used in medical applications.As a competitor, Google’s core Search product is getting AI support. Microsoft’s Bing beat Google to the punch by incorporating OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its search engine.

The Search Generative Experience (SGE), as it is colloquially known, will have a limited trial launch to opted-in US users for testing before Google contemplates a larger deployment. According to product demonstrations, the tool appears to collect information from webpages and provide it in a ChatGPT-like answer above actual search results in Google Search.

When consumers utilize the “shopping” option in Search, it also gives information about sought products. When the user looked for e-bikes, for example, the model gave advice on what features to look for in a bicycle, according to the Google presentation.

Bard, Google’s answer to ChatGPT, was among the items given the PaLM 2 makeover, which included new functionality and a wider rollout. The conversational AI model was first introduced roughly two months ago, but only in the United States and the United Kingdom; it is now available in over 180 nations, with more to follow.

Improvements to Bard’s coding ability and repertory are part of the upgrade. Google also improved its citations, with the bot noting where it obtained specific code. Adobe’s generative picture AI tools will be integrated into Bard shortly, allowing it to generate images given a prompt, similar to other popular applications.

Many additional Google products received PaLM 2 support, and Pichai led a series of demonstrations highlighting new AI-powered features on Google Maps, Docs, Mail, and Photos. One example featured an AI-powered version of Gmail’s “Smart Compose” feature, which can compose email responses based on a prompt. It also appears to draw data from the email thread to bulk out responses and may be modified to make the wording more formal, detailed, or brief.

A similar application, “Magic Compose,” is coming to Google’s Android phones with AI-generated responses that allegedly assist make a message express the “desired vibe” such as “chill” or “Shakespeare.” Despite the fact that PaLM 2 was just released, Google is working on a purportedly more advanced large language model named “Gemini” to replace it or, at the very least, provide another option.

Although Gemini is still in the early stages of development, Pichai stated that Google is “already seeing impressive multimodal capabilities not seen in prior models.” He noted that once “fine-tuned and rigorously tested for safety,” Gemini, like PaLM 2, will be available in a variety of sizes and capabilities.