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Google I/O 2024 live updates: The latest on Gemini AI, Android 15 and more

We're bringing you news from the company's developer conference as it unfolds.

Photo by Sam Rutherford / Engadget

Google is gearing up to share a slew of news around AI and Search at its I/O developer conference on May 14, and we expect a ton of announcements around Gemini, Android, Search and more. The company couldn't even wait till its own keynote to let us in on what it's been cooking, and has already teased us with a video of an intriguing camera-based AI feature on its social accounts.

Based on what we know so far, this is shaping up to be a hours-long launch event chock full of announcements. If you can't watch Google's I/O 2024 keynote for that much time, or prefer a text-and-images approach, we've got the liveblog for you. Our reporters Karissa Bell and Sam Rutherford will be at Shoreline Amphitheater to bring you the news live, with backup from the entire Engadget home team. Come back around 12pm ET on May 14th to hang with us as we cover all the updates from Google I/O 2024!

LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER129 updates
  • Gemini will be accessible in the side panel on Google apps like Gmail and Docs

    Google's Aparna Pappu onstage with a
    Google

    Google is adding Gemini-powered AI automation to more tasks in Workspace. In its Tuesday Google I/O keynote, the company said its advanced Gemini 1.5 Pro will soon be available in the Workspace side panel as “the connective tissue across multiple applications with AI-powered workflows,” as AI grows more intelligent, learns more about you and automates more of your workflow.

    Read the full story here.

  • Thanks for joining us. We're off to try and get a closer look at some of the things Google announced today at I/O.

    Oh, and that Sundar bumped that final AI count up one more time to 121.

    Who wants to bet if Google will top that next year?

  • Frankly I'm just glad it didn't last any longer than that. While Sam and Karissa go and check out whatever demos might be available at I/O 2024, come on over and join myself and senior reviewer Devindra Hardawar on Engadget's YouTube channel. I'm sure you have thoughts and feelings to share on everything Google just announced!

  • And that's a wrap on the keynote, it was *just* under 2 hours of all things Gemini and AI.

  • Even Google is cracking jokes about how many times people said AI
    Even Google is cracking jokes about how many times people said AI (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • 120 mentions of "AI" in this keynote, according to Sundar (who just came back onstage) and Gemini. I actually would have guessed a bit higher.

  • Gems will use the new LearnLM model, which is based on Gemini.
    Gems will use the new LearnLM model, which is based on Gemini. (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • Google, like most of its AI peers, plans to use watermarking to increase transparency around AI-generated content with SynthID. Those watermarks will be expanding to AI-generated video (remember those Veo demos from earlier?) and text, which is especially interesting because AI-generated text is so much more prevalent (and in some ways harder to detect than images or video).

  • SynthID is a tool that Google is making so that it's easy detect AI-generated content. But it also sounds like something from the Blade Runner universe that people can use to detect replicants.

  • We're getting into "building AI responsibly" portion, with a look at Google's approach to red-teaming, the process for looking for threats, "problematic" outputs and other issues that might cause problems for Google (and maybe the rest of us). After the fiasco with Gemini's image generator earlier this year, I'm actually surprised they waited this long to bring all this up.

  • James Manyika at Google I/O 2024 talks about AI ethics and responsibility.
    James Manyika at Google I/O 2024 talks about AI ethics and responsibility. (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • So it appears we've reached the developer-focused section of the I/O keynote. Karissa and I were just talking about how for non-developers, it can be hard to contextualize the amounts of tokens available in various Gemini plans.

  • We're getting a deeper dive into Gemini Flash, which we first heard about at the top of the keynote. Flash is the "lighter weight" Gemini model that has lower latency and is more efficient. It sounds like this is meant for developers and organizations that don't need the full power of Gemini 1.5 Pro but still want to take advantage of multimodal capabilities.

  • Yea, I think the scam alert feature is really nice, because it can give you a gut check in real-time when you might be feeling that a call feels a little sus.

  • Google Gemini can power a virtual AI teammate with its own Workspace account

    Google I/O
    Google

    Google's Gemini AI systems can do a lot, judging by today's I/O keynote. That includes the option to set up a virtual teammate with its own Workspace account. You can configure the teammate to carry out specific tasks, such as to monitor and track projects, organize information, provide context, pinpoint trends after analyzing data and to play a role in team collaboration.

    Read the full story here.

  • Josh Woodward is back to talk about various Gemini models available to developers.

  • Google has another solution to the never-ending scam calls. If you pick up, and it detects that the call is "suspicious" or a likely scam, it can surface a big alert right on your phone, potentially saving you from buying thousands of dollars of gift cards or transferring funds to a rogue account. A lot of those scams seem obvious, but people still fall for them and this might help.

  • TalkBack updates
    TalkBack updates (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • Like, will we ever see the day where you're allowed to bring a phone to take the SATs? Because if not, you're potentially giving students an aid they might not being able to use during important evaluations, which might end up being a disadvantage.

  • Karissa, I think Circle to Search supporting formulas is weird because for older types like us (or at least me), it feels like cheating.

  • I hate searching for something and getting a 5-minute YouTube video as a result so being able to "ask this video" instead is something I could definitely see myself using. I wonder if you still have to watch the pre-roll?

  • Dave Burke talking deeper Gemini integration in Android at Google I/O.
    Dave Burke talking deeper Gemini integration in Android at Google I/O. (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • Circle to search will soon support formulas.
    Circle to search will soon support formulas. (Photo by Sam Rutherford/ Engadget)
  • I understand why it would be helpful for Google to help with homework questions but there's something that still feels a bit off about encouraging students and parents to punt homework help over to Google's AI.

  • OK, sidenote: They showed a photo of someone searching for Fly by Jing sauce. That stuff is great.

  • We've finally started the Android portion of the keynote. Wow, Gemini is "becoming the new AI assistant on Android" so I guess Google Assistant is dead?

  • Finally, time to talk about Android with Sameer Samat.
    Finally, time to talk about Android with Sameer Samat. (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • Oh no, we've hit the musical interlude for Google I/O.

  • Google's new scam detection tools provide real-time alerts during phone calls

    A pop-up announcing a scam call.
    Google

    Google just announced forthcoming scam detection tools coming to Android phones later this year, which is a good thing as these scammers keep getting better and better at parting people from their money. The toolset, revealed at Google I/O 2024, is still in the testing stages but uses AI to suss out fraudsters in the middle of a conversation.

    Read the full story here.

  • I agree. I experimented with using chatGPT and other AI tools to plan an itinerary last summer and it was a bit ... rough. If anything, it was more of a starting place than an actual solution, especially because several of its suggestions were straight-up hallucinations! Maybe Gemini will do better,

  • Trip planning with Gemini
    Trip planning with Gemini (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • Now Sissie is talking about planning a trip with Gemini, and I feel like vacations are too expensive to trust an AI to plan. It's going to take some time for people to feel comfortable with letting AI take the wheel like this.

  • Gemini's app is getting a new "Live" feature that brings in the Project Astra tech we saw early in the keynote. It can speak and respond to voice commands and use your phone's camera for input.

  • The tech might be there, but I really don't think humans are ready for AI co-workers. Can you even imagine people who struggle with email trying to talk to smart chatbots in Slack?

  • Google's Gemini Nano brings better image-description smarts to its TalkBack vision tool

    A dress is shown on screen with a description of it.
    Google

    The Google I/O event is here, and the company is announcing lots of great updates for your Android device. As we heard earlier, Gemini Nano is getting multimodal support, meaning your Android will still process text but with a better understanding of other factors like sights, sounds and spoken language. Now Google has shared that the new tool is also coming to it's TalkBack feature.

    TalkBack is an existing tool that reads aloud a description of an image, whether it's one you captured or from the internet. Gemini Nano's multimodal support should provide a more detailed understanding of the image.

    Read the full story here.

  • Sissie Hasiao at Google I/O 2024
    Sissie Hsiao at Google I/O 2024 (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • Chip is essentially an AI coworker.. it can analyze shared documents, schedule meetings and track projects across your company's workspace. It sounds like organizations will be able to customize their own versions of Chip to suit their needs.

  • Google builds Gemini right into Android, adding contextual awareness within apps

    An image of the new Gemini for Android.
    Google

    Google just announced some nifty improvements to its Gemini AI chatbot for Android devices as part of the company’s I/O 2024 event. The AI is now part of the Android operating system, allowing it to integrate in a more comprehensive way.

    The coolest new feature wouldn’t be possible without that integration with the underlying OS. Gemini is now much better at understanding context as you control apps on the smartphone. What does this mean exactly? Once the tool officially launches as part of Android 15, you’ll be able to bring up a Gemini overlay that rests on top of the app you’re using. This will allow for context-specific actions and queries.

    Read the full story here.

  • Tony Vincent at Google I/O 2024
    Tony Vincent at Google I/O 2024 (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • Android's Circle to Search can now help students solve math and physics homework

    Android circle to search feature.
    Google

    Google has introduced another capability for its Circle to Search feature at the company's annual I/O developer conference, and it's something that could help students better understand potentially difficult class topics. The feature will now be able to show them step-by-step instructions for a "range of physics and math word problems." They just have to activate the feature by long-pressing the home button or navigation bar and then circling the problem that's got them stumped, though some math problems will require users to be signed up for Google's experimental Search Labs feature.

    Read the full story here.

  • We're officially one hour into this keynote, by the way, and still no love for Android. I know there will be plenty of time for Android updates later on, but it says a lot about how far Google's priorities have shifted, it wasn't that long ago that Android was the star of I/O. Now, it feels almost like an afterthought.

  • Though I guess that's sort of skipping ahead of where AI is at right now.

  • But I have to wonder if this role might be better served by an AI agent that would do these same things with potentially even less manual input.

  • Yea, I'm not going to lie, the ability of AI's to summarize things is nice, but it feels like the lowest rung of its capabilities. So it's good to see how things are evolving with contextual replies and carrying over data between various apps like Gmail, Calendar, etc.

  • Gemini is going to power some interesting new features in the Gmail app, including summaries of long email threads. You'll also be able to chat with Gemini directly to find details from throughout your inbox. There are also new reply suggestions that can understand the context of your emails for (hopefully) more useful text suggestions. I've never been particularly impressed with Gmail's auto-suggestions but maybe Gemini will make them actually useful.

  • Aparna Pappu at Google I/O
    Aparna Pappu at Google I/O (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)
  • Yea, making all this work in the real world isn't something you can just snap your fingers and voila. But down the line it almost makes me wonder if humanity's role going forward might be to just fact-check whatever army of AI agents you have at your disposal.

  • Okay, this actually seems pretty useful. Search is getting video recognition capabilities so you can search based on the contents of a video, which could be particularly helpful when you need to fix something or answer a question you can't easily describe. Google will be able to understand what's in the clip and (hopefully) surface relevant results.

  • Google's Gemini will search your videos to help you solve problems

    Google's Gemini will search video to answer your questions
    Google

    As part of its push toward adding generative AI to search, Google has introduced a new twist: video. Gemini will let you upload video that demonstrates an issue you're trying to resolve, then scour user forums and other areas of the internet to find a solution.

    As an example, Google's Rose Yao talked onstage at I/O 2024 about a used turntable they bought and how they couldn't get the needle to sit on the record.

    Read the full story here.

  • Rose Yao at Google I/O 2024
    Rose Yao at Google I/O 2024 (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget)