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Google I/O 2023
Gmail will eventually write emails for you |
Google’s working on releasing an AI-enhanced version of Gmail’s automated reply feature that’ll let you enter a short prompt to have the service write your whole email for you essentially. Of course, you’ll be able to customize the text Gmail generates. The feature is called Help me write, and while Google didn’t give an exact time frame, CEO Sundar Pichai said it’s coming “soon.” Google I/O 2023
We got a peek at Android 14 features
Android 14 made several appearances at I/O this year. We actually didn’t hear a ton about new features, but we got a peek at some customization options. You’ll be able to make snazzy custom wallpapers out of emoji, photos, or even from text prompts — Android will use generative AI to create whatever wallpapers you can dream up.
Android 14 is also getting some iOS-style lock screen customization, with options to change fonts, rearrange visual elements, and more.
Google Maps Immersive View expands
Immersive View is a Google Maps feature that lets you virtually explore certain areas in convincing 3D. The newly announced Immersive View for routes takes that experience a step further, showing not only 3D-recreated environments but also information about things like transit options and weather in wider swaths of more cities. That said, the feature will still be geographically limited. Google says it intends to roll out Immersive View for routes in 15 cities — Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle Tokyo, and Venice — by the end of the year.
Google Bard gains new features, loses waitlist
Google’s Bard text generator is still in beta, but at I/O, Google made it clear its AI chatbot is making strides. Soon, Bard will gain new capabilities, including Google Lens integration for image recognition, Google Maps integration to visualize places, and Sheets integration to create detailed spreadsheets with just a text prompt.
Starting today, Bard is available in 180 countries with no waitlist, though only in English. Google says 40 additional languages are coming eventually. There’s also a new dark theme — nice.
There’s a new Google Labs hub
Google Photos is getting an AI-assisted editing boost. The new Magic Editor uses machine learning techniques to make previously difficult photo editing tasks a breeze. You can do things like long press on a person to cut them out of the background and reposition them in the frame, or recreate parts of objects that were outside the frame when you took your photo. Magic Editor is expected to launch later this year.
AI comes to Google Search
AI has become a big part of Microsoft’s Bing search engine, so it was only a matter of time before Google followed suit. Accordingly, Google has announced that Bard will be integrated into Search, letting Google provide natural language summaries of search results and offer a “conversational mode” where you can ask follow-up questions about results. US residents can sign up to join a waitlist to try the new Bard search experience here.
There’s a suite of new AI-powered features coming soon to the Google Play Store. Soon, app listings will show an AI-generated review summary that aims to sum up reviewer sentiments in just a few words, saving you the hassle of actually reading user reviews. There’s also a developer-focused tool that’ll help devs generate text for app listings with minimal effort that’s rolling out in the Developer Console beginning today.
Android gets a boost in cars
Android Automotive OS — Google’s in-car software that operates entirely in your vehicle, without relying on your phone to do the lifting — is picking up quite a few improvements. Navigation apps will be able to display directions on instrument cluster screens, directly in front of the driver; multiple in-car screens will be able to display multiple different apps; and Waze is coming to Automotive OS, complete with EV charging location support. That’s not all, either: there were a ton of car-related announcements. Check out our full write-up for more.
