Google I/O 2024 Live Blog: Latest News on Android, Gemini, and Search

Hey Gemini, summarize this keynote.

Manyika's presentation is like the fine print that rushes by at the end of Pharma ads.

James Manyika, who is on stage now, has an interesting job. He's the Senior Vice President for Research, Technology & Society at Google; his team researches the impact these AI tools have on society to make sure they have a beneficial effect and that they do not cause harm. They also work on safeguards, developer tools, and industry standards.

Wait… just how long is this event? Glad I didn't drink even more coffee.

This has been an absolute marathon of a Google I/O keynote. Soon we'll get some demos, grill some Google execs, and, as Paresh is already doing, comb through the documentation of all of these new products to figure out what's up behind the scenes.

Nervous about AI scam calls? I put together a few expert tips you can use right now.

What a time to be alive.

Sooo scammers are using AI to clone voices and dupe people into giving up highly personal or financial information over the phone. Google's answer is...more AI.

Scam Detect in action. END CALL!

Here's Google injecting its AI features into improving phone calls again.

Gemini Nano with Multimodality can understand when someone might be trying to scam you during a phone call and it'll give you a “Scam Detected” alert. That means Gemini is listening to the whole call, yes, but Google says since it's all on-device, it “remains private.”

The crowd watches Dave Burke, head of Android engineering, interact with the new Gemini build on a Pixel.

So many of these contextual features reminded me of “Now on Tap,” a feature Google debuted nearly a decade ago back in the Google Now days of Android. When I asked Dave Burke, VP of engineering on Android, about how some of these features are coming back in new forms, he had this to say:

For anyone wondering about Google's legalese on “Ask Photos,” Google Photos software engineer Jeremy Selier writes, “People will not review your conversations and personal data in Ask Photos, except in rare cases to address abuse or harm. We also don't train any generative AI product outside of Google Photos on this personal data, including other Gemini models and products.”

The presenter pulled out a phone to do an on-stage demo, and when he said it was a Pixel 8A, he got a little cheer from the crowd. Aww.

Now we're hearing from Android chief Sameer Samat about all the enhancements AI is bringing to Android, including Circle to Search, on-device Gemini stuff, and context aware requests. Check out Julian's story 👇 to learn more.

Circle to Search supposed to be on 200 million devices by the end of the year. Does that mean it won't be coming to iPhones soon?