In a highly competitive market like smartphones, it can sometimes make sense to watch the competition. That's especially true when it comes to Google's Android and Apple's iOS in the smartphone AI space.
While Google has already announced some significant AI-based features for Android smartphones, Apple is widely known to be lagging behind in the “AI on smartphone” race. Tech industry observers expect this to change in about a month, with Apple expected to announce a number of new AI-powered generation features at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). There is.
But in the meantime, Google continues to extend its lead, announcing several new features for Android at its Google I/O developer conference this week. The company started by expanding its already impressive Circle-to-Search feature, which was first shown off with Samsung at the company's Galaxy Unpacked event earlier this year.
In case you haven't seen it yet, circle-to-search provides a very intuitive and graphical way to find what's currently showing on your phone's display. Simply press and hold the home button on your Android smartphone, and as the name suggests, use your finger (or stylus) to select an object or text on your phone's screen in a circle or doodle, and Google will automatically Perform a search. Highlighted item. You can also ask questions about objects to learn more.
It's a simple but very useful extension to your phone (or tablet) that leverages the AI ​​processors of modern devices to basically “see” what's on your screen from the inside out. can do. More importantly, it's the kind of experience that makes your smartphone finally feel “smart.” After all, if you can see what's on the screen, why can't you?
Circle-to-Search's latest enhancement is the Homework Helper feature, which interestingly seems to share many similarities with the latest version of ChatGPT 4o that OpenAI just introduced. Google's version helps students solve physics and math word problems on their device screen, explaining how to solve them along the way (rather than just giving them the answer). This is a great example of how AI-powered features can bring incredibly useful new experiences to your phone or tablet.
Google powers search: Google goes all-in on AI and Gemini: What will that mean for Google Search?
Google also explained how it is integrating Gemini-generated AI models more deeply across Android. Google provided examples of how Gemini can be used to perform actions such as dragging and dropping AI-generated images into documents, emails, and messages. Additionally, thanks to Gemini's summarization feature, you can find the specific information you're looking for within a video through a feature called “Ask this Video.”
One of the big trends that Apple is expected to highlight at WWDC is the ability to run large-scale language models (LLMs) directly on the iPhone to power generative AI capabilities. This allows some applications to function on their own without accessing the cloud. While it may not sound like a big deal at first, this approach has some benefits, especially when it comes to privacy and performance. To be clear, external connectivity is still required for general purpose searches, but applications and experiences that leverage your documents, emails, messages, etc. can only run on your device, potentially exposing your personal information. can be prevented.
Google also recognized these benefits, noting that its Gemini Nano model will be included in the next version of Android, making it the first mobile operating system to do so. More importantly, Google also announced that a multimodal version of Gemini Nano (meaning a version that recognizes spoken language, audio, and camera input in addition to text) will be coming to Android later this year. This greatly enhances the experience and enables the creation of powerful, intelligent digital assistants that can understand and intelligently respond to user requests. In fact, Google teased an interesting and compelling vision of what a digital assistant could be through Project Astra at its I/O event.
Google also demonstrated some AI applications that go far beyond the typical uses of generative AI we've seen so far. For example, the new TalkBack feature, which leverages Gemini Nano multimodal capabilities, can describe images to people who are visually impaired. The company also showed off a fraud detection feature that listens to phone conversations and alerts you if it appears to be a type of scam. Some people are understandably concerned about AI-powered agents monitoring conversations, but this process only happens on the device. (This is also a good example of why it is very important to run certain applications only on the device.)
If you're an Android smartphone user, you can expect these kinds of AI-powered features to roll out to new generations of devices throughout the year. For iPhone owners, Apple will be introducing unique AI-powered features, many of which are likely to be similar to those announced by Google. In fact, there are even rumors that Apple may license some technologies from both Google and OpenAI to integrate into the next version of iOS.
Either way, it's clear that we're entering an exciting new era of truly “smart” devices with AI-powered features that will make the experience of using them more intuitive and more rewarding. must.
USA TODAY columnist Bob O'Donnell is president and principal analyst at TECHnaracy Research, a market research and consulting firm. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech.
