Google’s yearly developer conference has shown the search, advertising, apps, operating system and AI giant noting that “we are fully in the Gemini era”, with some demos that were just as impressive as OpenAI’s new ChatGPT 4o omni – read on and watch!

The Google I/O conference kicked off yesterday, Tuesday May 14 2024, with Google noting it has been investing in AI for more than a decade, with this year’s announcements show more ways that it is “making AI helpful for everyone.”

Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared updates across Gemini, Android, Search and Photos. He also spoke of the opportunity to approach AI boldly and with a sense of excitement – while staying committed to building and deploying AI responsibly so that everyone can benefit equally. You can read a transcript of Sundar’s remarks on the official Google blog, and you’ll find all the announcements in Google’s I/O 2024 news collection.

Here is the keynote for all users (the developer keynote is embedded at the end of this article:

Here is a summary Google shared of the biggest announcements:

  • Search with video when you’re lost for words: Soon you’ll be able to ask questions about videos even as you take them. Searching with video will save you the time and trouble of finding the right words to describe what you’re looking for, and you’ll get an AI Overview that guides you to helpful information. Searching with video will be available soon to Search Labs users in English in the US, and expected to expand to more regions over time.
  • Ask Photos in Google Photos: With Ask Photos, you can request what you’re looking for in a natural way, like: “Show me the best photo from each national park I’ve visited.” Google Photos can show you what you’re looking for, saving you from all that scrolling.
  • Homework Help with Circle to Search: With Circle to Search built directly into the user experience, you can search anything you see on your phone using a simple gesture. Now, Circle to Search can help students with homework, giving them a deeper understanding, not just an answer — directly from their phones and tablets. When students circle a prompt they’re stuck on, they’ll get step-by-step instructions to solve a range of physics and math word problems without leaving their digital info sheet or syllabus.
  • LearnLM enhancing learning experiences: Soon you’ll be able to use Gems, custom versions of Gemini that can act as personal experts on any topic. Learning coach, one of the pre-made Gems, can support you in building knowledge by providing step-by-step study guidance, along with helpful practice activities like quizzes and games.
  • Receive alerts for suspected scams during phone calls: Google is testing a new feature that uses Gemini Nano to provide real-time alerts during a call if it detects conversation patterns commonly associated with scams. For example, you would receive an alert if a “bank representative” asks you to urgently transfer funds, make a payment with a gift card or requests personal information like card PINs or passwords, which are uncommon bank requests. This protection all happens on-device, so your conversation stays private to you.
  • An improved version of Gemini 1.5 Pro: Google is introducing a series of updates across the Gemini family of models, including Gemini 1.5 Pro, and extending its context window to 2 million tokens to further enhance performance.
  • AI Assistants: Google is also sharing its progress in building the future of AI assistants with Project Astra – advanced seeing and talking responsive agent. This is Google’s vision for the future of AI assistants.
  • Transform your ideas: Google announced VideoFX, a new experimental tool powered by Veo, Google DeepMind’s new and most capable generative video model to date. It’s designed to help support creatives through the storytelling journey. Google is also releasing updates for ImageFX and MusicFX as it continue to help people bridge the gap between inspiration and their final creations.
  • Expansion of SynthID: A technology that adds watermarks to AI-generated images and audio so they’re easier to identify and to protect against misuse.

Google also shared a “fun fact”: The name “I/O” comes from the number googol, with the “I” representing the “1” in googol and the “O” representing the first “0” in the number. You can read more about this here.

Here is a thread from X showing a stack of great things that Google’s new AI can do:

Here is the Google I/O developer keynote for 2024, aimed at those who create apps for Google’s various operating systems and platforms: