During the Google I/O keynote, the company made a flurry of announcements about its recent developments and unveiled several new products and features.
For those who don't have the time to waste to watch a two-hour presentation, the Jetson team has compiled a list of the biggest news from the keynote in an easy-to-read format. Below are the highlights:
Bard AI Chatbot
Google has announced a series of upgrades for its Bard AI chatbot, expanding its availability to over 180 countries and territories, and equipping it with new capabilities. The chatbot, which has been rivaling OpenAI's ChatGPT, will now run on the new PaLM 2 large language model, which is expected to provide more intelligent answers to users' questions.
Google has some good news for users of its AI chatbot, Bard. The company has removed the waitlist for Bard and made it available in English in over 180 countries and territories. It has also added support for Japanese and Korean, with plans to support up to 40 languages soon.
Furthermore, Bard now has the ability to display images in its responses, and Google has partnered with Adobe to provide art generation capabilities via Bard. Users will be able to generate images using Adobe's Firefly and modify them using Express. Bard will also offer templates, fonts, stock images, and other assets from the Express library.
AI in new Google I/O Feature
Google Search is introducing two new features that aim to improve the understanding of content and context related to images in search results. These include an "About this Image" feature that provides more information and new markup in image files that allows them to be labeled as "AI-generated." While these features build on existing efforts, their main purpose is to enhance transparency regarding the credibility of images and their AI origins.
However, it's important to note that they are not a complete solution to the larger issue of AI-generated image misinformation.
Google has announced a new "Perspectives" filter that will appear at the top of certain search results to showcase the experiences of others. This feature will be used when posts on discussion boards, Q&A sites, and social media platforms, including videos, can add value to search results. It will enable users to easily find links to sources like Reddit or YouTube videos.
AI in Docs and Spreadsheets
Google Workspace, the company's online office suite, is set to introduce AI-powered tools that enable users to generate full documents and spreadsheets automatically. The "Help Me Write" feature, which can write essays and sales pitches, will soon be available in Google Docs for all users, allowing them to create job descriptions, among other things.
During a demonstration, Google showcased the software, powered by PaLM 2, generating notes and spreadsheets for a fictional dog walking company. In addition, Google Slides will now be capable of generating AI-powered images, such as a slice of pizza being dipped into fondue.
Bottom line: The new capabilities of Bard and Google AI include the ability to incorporate images in responses and the integration of third-party tools such as Adobe's Firefly generative AI service to create images based on text descriptions. Bard will also be able to retrieve information from Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Gmail and will integrate with popular services such as Spotify, Walmart, Redfin, Uber Eats, Tripadvisor, and ZipRecruiter.