Google I/O 2024 live blog: breaking news about Gemini AI, Pixel, Android 15 and more

Now we’re talking about ‘Ask with video’.

You can now get an AI-organized search results page, with Gemini organizing results into useful ‘clusters.’ Contextual factors are taken into account – for example if you’re looking for places to visit when on holiday.

Research that can take hours will be done by Google in a few seconds, apparently. For people like like researching things and finding new things, this might not be that thrilling.

But for boring things, it’s pretty cool.

By the end of the year, AI Overviews will come to over a billion people in Google Search. So, we should get much smarter Google results, and can handle search terms that use various different questions. It’s a much more ‘human’ way of breaking down questions and explaining results, all based on Google’s huge index of websites.

“Search in the Gemini era.” Google is VERY bullish about Gemini, it seems.

“Google is going to Google that for you” with the power of Gemini.

Now we are hearing about how Google Search is going to change.

Now Sundar Pichai is wrapping things up with the Gemini and AI tools. Google search is now “Generative AI at the scale of human creativity,” apparently.

Now talking about an AI hypercomputer. Thanks to liquid cooling in its data centers, it can push a huge amount of cloud processing across the world.

Now talking about CPUs – Trillium. Will be available for cloud customers in 2024. Also will be offering Nvidia Blackwell GPU capabilities in 2025. That’s cool!

Now we have Donald Glover (on video). He says with these tools anyone can be a director – and should be.

I admire Glover a lot, but that is quite a statement…

You can prompt for things to create videos – using a tool called VideoFX. This is the kind of stuff that’s very interesting, but also something I have quite a few reservations about. Could this replace human artists? That is the worry.

Now talking about Veo, a generative video model.

Now we are being told about generative AI music-making tools. Another video showing how you can sample music and create whole new tracks – with AI.

Coming to Google services like Gemini later this year. Phil will be testing it out live at the event, so keep your eyes peeled on our home page and socials for that!

One device they mentioned that could be used are smart glasses. Could this be a hint of a future Google Glass sequel?!

This is impressive – they are asking various questions and the AI is answering in a realistic manner. It can even tell you where you left things, apparently. This would, of course, mean you’re constantly filming yourself and your home. I don’t think many people will love that.

Project Astra announced – a multi-modal AI that can better understand the context of your requests.

This is VERY technical, but we have a video demo of how Astra can identify things you point your phone’s camera at.

It’s a high number though. Big number = good, yeah?

Another reference to 2 million tokens!!! Yey!! I don’t know what they mean.

‘Making AI helpful for everyone’ – Sundar Pichai.

To be fair, this is what companies really need to do. And it’s something I’ve not yet seen from the likes of OpenAI and Microsoft.

Getting some more use cases. Shopping for shoes is the first one. If you want to return it, Gemini could find your receipt, fill out a returns form then arrange collection.

Sounds cool but… will it actually work like that?

We are now being told how Gemini can help your kids do homework. Again, impressive, but this is putting a lot of pressure on the accuracy and dependability of Gemini.

You can also ask Gemini to give you highlights of meetings in Google Meet. It can then draft replies. Handy. If you and your work are all-in on Google Workplace.

Now we’ve gone on to Google Workspace and Gemini. You can ask it to summerize emails from certain contacts (in the demo it’s a school).

I use Google Photos, and I’ve used it in the past to find the licence plate of my car, so the demo that Sundar Pichai just showed was of particular interest to me!

If it works as well as the demo suggests, I’ll definitely be using it to find photos in my huge library.

Now we are getting some devs talking about tokens and stuff. It’s times like this you remember that Google I/O is an event primarily aimed at developers.

Known as ‘Ask Photos’, this tool will come later in the summer. Some people may not be comfortable with how much of your data Google is helping itself to, however…

He’s now talking about how to find a photo in Google Photos. You can now talk to Gemini and it will be able to cleverly find your car’s registration plate, a process that could have taken a lot longer in the past.

AI Overviews is going to be available to everyone in the US this week – and other countries ‘soon’. What is AI Overviews? Good question…

We are going to see a lot about how Gemini can work with Google’s various products (called it!).

Here is Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, talking about Gemini. He’s really pushing how revolutionary AI, and especially Gemini, is. More than 1.5 million developers use Gemini, apparently.

Oooh Android Auto hint in the countdown?

If that was supposed to give us a taste of Gemini’s music-creation tools… It wasn’t really anything we’ve not seen/heard before.

Oooh something is happening! And no, Phil did not manage to get a t-shirt 🙁

He’s now shooting t-shirts into the crowd. Hopefully Phil catches one!

There’s a guy making some weird noises using Google’s generative AI tools. It’s… uh… a choice. The crowd don’t seem to into it.

“It’s too early for this,” Phil tells us.

Fun fact: Google’s livestream is playing waiting music that’s “created using image-to-music generation by our AI models”

Another clue? Using AI-generated art is a very controversial topic right now (and Apple managed to upset quite a few artists with its latest iPad Pro advert).

Right, almost 30 minutes until the show. If you want a recap of what we expect, head to our Google I/O 2024 hub for everything you need to know before the show itself.

While we wait, Google has created a new version of its popular Dino game, which you can play using the QR code below.

This new version uses generative AI – which could give us a hint at what Google will be showing off.

People are taking their seats! We are now around an hour from the event starting. Exciting!

So, I said that here in London it wouldn’t be as sunny as in California… but going from Phil’s photos it actually doesn’t look much different to what we’re currently seeing in the UK.

Our US phones editor is on the ground! Here’s some pictures he’s sent us, using a Pixel 8a.

Hello! It’s Matt, taking the live blog back after a short break! We are just over an hour out from the Google I/O keynote!

Oh and look who’s popped up! It’s our very own Philip Berne at Google I/O. 

As Matt mentioned earlier, there’s scope for Google to tease the Pixel 9 series, as the search giant has got into the habit of teasing its upcoming phones. But from Android 15 we could get an idea of what to expect from the ninth-generation Pixel phones. 

Or just use a combination of natural language processing and learning how I’ve been using my phone to serve up better answers to various queries. I want an autocorrect that actually gets me, rather than play ‘guess what the clumsy typer is trying to write’. 

What do I mean by that? Well I want to be able to ask my phone where I was on a particular drunken night out and have it serve up where I may have wandered off too. 

On the subject of Android 15, I expect we’ll get a much deeper look at what to expect from the mobile operating system. AI will surely play a part, but I’d rather Google intergrated better AI tools into the backend of Android rather than focusing on generative AI stuff. 

Then again with devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, I get the feeling Google is content to let other devices makers coax Android onto tablets rather than put too much of the legwork in itself. 

I doubt we’ll hear too much on the tablet front from Google as there’s been very little in the way of murrurings about any tablet-centric features coming to Android 15.  

So speaking of tablets, I’d love to see Google give the fondle-slate version of Android some love. As it stands, Android isn’t really up to par when it comes to offering a large-screend experience so I feel Google has some work to do there. 

Hi. It’s Roland Moore-Colyer, Managing Editor of Mobile Computing, taking over the live blog for a bit while Matt Hanson goes to shoot some iPad Air and iPad Pro videos. 

The timing of this leak is particularly unfortunate as it’s on the day of I/O 2024, and potential  images of Google’s upcoming flagship phones could overshadow the event.

I certainly got a bit excited and thought this could mean we may get to see new Pixel smartphones today, but on reflection, I think Google will likely hold a dedicated Pixel launch event later this year.

The company will also likely not mention the leaks, though who knows? Maybe the leak, if accurate, forces Google to show a quick preview of the phones early.

While Google will likely launch the Pixel 9 series in October, as it has previous generations, a new leak today apparently shows off three models.

The leak suggests that the Google Pixel 9 has a 6.24-inch screen, the Pixel 9 Pro has a 6.34-inch display, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a 6.73-inch screen.

I’m also a fan of the Pixel Watch. It’s one of the few Wear OS-powered smartwatches that offers excellent features, good performance and an attractive design.

I skipped the Pixel Watch 2 as my OG model still runs fine. However, if there’s a Pixel Watch 3 launch alongside the Pixel 9 family, I’d be very interested to see if this time the generational leap is much larger.

However, most rumors suggest a Pixel Watch 3 launch will be later on this month. Still, I’d like Google to show off some Wear OS improvements that can make my beloved original Pixel Watch even better.

Sounds familiar? Yep, they were essentially Chromebook Plus devices before Chromebook Plus was a thing.

So, today’s Google I/O keynote could be the perfect time to resurrect the Pixelbook. Sadly, I don’t think this will happen – when I’ve spoken to Google in the past it showed little interest in a follow-up to the Pixelbook Go.

But, if Google was to launch a surprise Pixelbook, it would make me very happy indeed.

Sadly, Google has never released a followup to the Pixelbook Go. It seems to have abandoned making its own Chromebooks, which is a real shame. The Pixelbook lineup showed how Chromebooks could be more than just budget laptops with a limited operating system.

Pixelbooks were premium and powerful Chromebooks that could go toe-to-toe with much more expensive premium laptops from the likes of Dell and Apple. 

The Pixelbook Go was a brilliant Chromebook with superb performance, a lovely screen, long battery life and one of the best keyboards ever included in a laptop.

It was a joy to use, and for a few years it was my go-to laptop for when I needed to work away from my desk.

One thing that I would absolutely love to see at Google I/O is a follow-up to one of my favorite laptops of all time: the Pixelbook Go.

Chromebook Plus devices are more powerful variants of the humble Chromebook, and offer better specs, screens and build quality, all while keeping prices relatively cheap.

However, for people looking for the best cheap laptops, or laptops for students, for example, a standard Chromebook remains your best option. But, could Google I/O change that?

I’d also love to see some cool new Chromebooks. Maybe a showcase on how Chromebook Plus devices can stand out amongst the best Chromebooks on the market.

Could we see some new Pixel smartphones as well? There’s certainly convincing rumors that the Pixel 9 series will be launched today.

I’ll be interested in seeing what Google does here. I’ve had Pixel phones since the original, and my last handset was the Pixel Pro 7. So, I like Pixels a lot, especially how they come with relatively bloat-free versions of Android.

However, my Pixel Pro 7 sadly got run over (a long story that I don’t fully remember), so I have a new phone – the Samsung Galaxy 24 Ultra. If Google releases a Pixel 9 that surpasses that, I might be a bit upset.

Personally, while AI has huge potential, I’ve not really found any of the big AI releases to have fundamentally changed my day-to-day life. So, I’ll be interested to see if Google can change that.

Otherwise, as an owner of an Android smartphone, I’ll be really keen to see what Google has in store with Android 15, which is likely to appear.

We’ll likely hear more about what Gemini can do, as well as how it integrates into Google’s major products, such as the Chrome browser and Pixel smartphones.

So, what’s everyone looking forward to at this year’s I/O event? There is a huge amount of excitement about artificial intelligence, and it seems like Google is going to be doubling down with its AI chatbot Gemini.

If you want to watch along with the live stream, which starts at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (or May 15 at 3am AEST), then check out our guide on how to watch Google I/O 2024. 

As I mention above, we’ll have Phil Berne, our US Phones Editor, on the ground at the event in California (lucky him), while myself and a lot of the TechRadar team will be following along online from the much less sunny climes of New York and London.

Hello! Welcome to our Google I/O liveblog! I’ll be running this live blog as the hype builds for what Google is going to show today.