Google (GOOG, GOOGL) is in the midst of a full-blown AI evolution. The company on Tuesday announced a number of AI products and services during its I/O developer conference in a bid to reposition itself as the world’s AI software leader.
“We are fully in our Gemini era,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in his opening remarks, referencing the company’s latest Gemini AI models and noting that AI is still in the “very early days of the AI platform shift.”
For years, Google was considered the artificial intelligence powerhouse of Silicon Valley. But OpenAI and Microsoft (MSFT) derailed the company by entering into a multibillion-dollar, multi-year partnership in 2023 that will see Microsoft integrate OpenAI’s most advanced models into its productivity, search and cloud products.
All of this helped Microsoft be crowned the world’s most valuable company earlier this year.
Google’s climb back wasn’t easy. It initially released a ChatGPT competitor called Bard, which failed to live up to initial expectations. And recently, there was a hitch in the rollout of its generative AI-powered image generator, a tool the company admitted “didn’t work the way we intended.”
Stealing back the AI throne starts with Google reinventing its flagship product, Search. Now (or soon, as it becomes available) you’ll find a generative AI-powered area at the top of the screen called the AI Overview, which offers links to resources as well as summary answers to queries.
This is a big change for Google and could impact everything from its advertisers, which are the company’s main source of revenue, to websites that rely on the firm for search traffic, such as travel platforms and media outlets.
While the search changes were the biggest updates to Google’s publicly available products, they weren’t the only major announcements at the show. Google also introduced a new prototype AI-powered assistant called Project Astra.
During a pre-recorded stage demo, displaying content streamed from your smartphone’s camera, the platform was able to identify objects, solve programming problems, and more.
Unlike digital assistants Google Assistant and Apple’s (AAPL) Siri, Project Astra offers a more human-like, creative, conversational tone. He even understands when you interrupt him and manages to stop and listen without getting angry. He doesn’t look human!
Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who toured the I/O demo areas, said the technology behind Project Astra would be useful for the company’s canceled Google Glass, adding that the headset was 10 years ahead of its time.
But Google’s announcement comes a day after OpenAI released its own GPT-4o model, based on pre-recorded and livestreamed demos and capable of performing many of the same tasks as Project Astra. Moreover, while OpenAI offers parts of the GPT-4o model for free to users, Google says it will charge for access to Project Astra.
Google also announced AI updates to its Workspace productivity suite, including the introduction of Gemini to the Gmail mobile app. This feature allows users to quickly summarize emails and write contextual responses based on messages.
Android, Google’s mobile operating system, has also received its share of prolific AI improvements, including the ability to detect fraudulent calls and insert AI-generated images and more into text messages and Gmail.
As of now, this puts Google well ahead of Apple, which has yet to introduce generative AI features into its iOS operating system for the iPhone. However, this is expected to change drastically when the company hosts its annual WWDC event in June.
Even if Apple launches new productive AI offerings, it could still be a boon for Google because, according to Bloomberg, Apple is trying to use Google’s Gemini to power the iPhone’s AI capabilities. However, Apple is also in talks with OpenAI. Guys, we have an artificial intelligence trial.
For now, Google seems to be on top again. While GPT-4o has cooled some of the excitement around Project Astra, Google’s AI Overview for Search will introduce many more people to productive AI technologies than either Microsoft or Apple when they show their hand.
But Google’s lead may be short-lived as Microsoft prepares to host its Build developer conference next week.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DanielHowley.
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