Yesterday, Thursday, May 11, Google shared over 100 updates at its ‘Google I/O’ developer conference, with a large number of them pertaining to artificial intelligence (AI).

A few of the top updates included supercharged search engines, generative email tools, immersive maps, Adobe integrations, and a host of upcoming plugins for its LLM Bard — its answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Search Reimagined  

Google noted seven different updates to its search engine and a new program that allows users to test products and ideas it’s exploring, titled “Search Labs.”

The tech giant shared that in the coming weeks, users will be able to sign up and try a new generative AI experience in Search but that the system will primarily be launching in the United States and only in English, to begin with.

Google shared that “the experience will take your search queries and give you AI-powered snapshots of key information to consider with links to dig deeper and suggested next steps — and when you click on these follow-up prompts, you’ll see a new conversational mode where you can ask Google more about the topic you’re exploring.”

Other updates to search include a generative AI shopping tool, which is designed to provide a snapshot of various factors about products, including most current reviews, ratings, price data, and more.

Additionally, Search Labs will feature “Code Tips” to provide insight for writing better code and an “Add to Sheets” function that allows users to add search results directly into a spreadsheet. Beyond tooling updates, the leading search engine is also making changes to its rank result system, prioritizing content that is identified as having “unique expertise and experience.”

Communication, Navigation, and Creation

Some of the most exciting updates to come out of the conference were the advancement of tools many use on a day-to-day basis — including Gmail, Google Maps, and Adobe.

While Gmail has already been using AI technology to help with responses, like suggesting sentence completions, this latest update takes things to the next level with “Help me write.”

With the new feature, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said all users need to do is “just type in the prompt of what you want, [gives example] hit create, and a full draft appears.” Once the draft is populated, users can further use AI to refine results, asking it to either formalize, elaborate, shorten, or randomize with the “I’m feeling lucky” option.

3. Google releases “Help me write” in Gmail.

Email has changed forever.

Just write one-line prompt, AI will automatically generates the whole email for you in seconds.

There are also many options to refine your emails.pic.twitter.com/9wmEqztqMm

— Barsee ? (@heyBarsee) May 11, 2023

Other impressive updates include Google Maps’ “Immersive View for routes,” which produces high-fidelity views using AI. The feature also includes live air quality, weather, and traffic data, with a time slider to view predictive data for later in the day.

Pichai shared that the new feature is slated to be rolled out throughout the summer and will be fully integrated into over 15 cities by the end of the year — including London, New York, Tokyo, San Francisco, and more.

For the creators, Google announced a partnership with Adobe and the launch of “Geospatial Creator,” a tool aimed at helping creators “easily visualize, design, and publish world-anchored immersive content in minutes”, particularly from familiar platforms like Unity and Adobe Aero.

Additionally, the tech giant shared that “in the future, you’ll see Bard [its conversational AI chat platform] integrated not only with Google services but with popular apps you use — like Adobe.”

A Connected LLM

While Bard, Google’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT currently serves as a standalone chatbot — that soon may change. The company gave a preview of upcoming plugins that will supercharge the service and make it suitable for everyday use in a variety of cases.

Potential plugins included Spotify, Walmart, Indeed, YouTube, Khan Academy, Tripadvisor, and over a dozen other platforms and services.

With AI mentioned over 140 times during the conference and 27 times during Pichai’s 15-minute keynote alone — it’s clear that the tech will continue to reshape the world, from an industrial level to the way individuals go about their most menial tasks.

In other news, Apple CEO Tim Cook gives brief glimpse into the company’s AI stance.