By Julie Clover
Google today announced several new artificial intelligence features it's building into its Android 15 operating system, giving us some insight into what Apple's iPhone operating system will compete against later this year.
According to Google, Android is based on artificial intelligence, and Gemini is a fundamental part of Android that works at the system level. There is an AI-powered search bar that can be used to answer queries and find information, and the Search Circle feature can be used to solve math and physics problems or get homework help starting today.
Gemini serves as an AI assistant on Android instead of Google Assistant, and Gemini AI will be able to be used as an overlay on any app you use. Gemini is context aware and can predict what a smartphone user is doing and provide context at that moment. It can create images for texts and social networks or answer questions about the video you are watching. It can analyze PDFs, websites and other content, providing summaries and translations.
Google uses on-device AI for some features to keep sensitive data private, and that's also Apple's plan. Rumor has it that many of Apple's first AI features will run on-device rather than through a cloud server.
Gemini Nano, Google's on-device AI, is currently capable of generating smart replies in messaging apps and summarizing voice notes. Gemini Nano with multimodality will arrive on Pixel phones later this year, bringing new on-device AI features like TalkBack that can help blind and low-vision users better interpret the world around them. Google is also developing a call screening feature that actively listens to calls and alerts users if it looks like a scam.
Today Google also announced Gemini 1.5 Flash, a lightweight version of its Gemini Pro AI model. Gemini Flash is more efficient, cheaper, and has lower latency, making it ideal for large-scale deployments. Google says Gemini 1.5 Flash is capable of delivering “impressive quality” for its size, excelling at summarizing, chat apps, image and video captioning, and extracting data from long documents.
Gemini 1.5 Pro has also been improved and is capable of handling increasingly complex and nuanced instructions, including analyzing documents up to 1,500 pages long or an hour of video content. Gemini can be interacted with in Google Messages, and Gemini Advanced subscribers will be able to experience a new mobile conversational experience that makes communicating with Gemini more intuitive. Subscribers also have access to personalized versions of Gemini called Gems for personalized assistants that can help with workouts, provide recipes, and more for specific personalities.
Project Astra, another Google project, focuses on artificial intelligence agents that can be useful in everyday life. Google has demonstrated prototypes of agents that can identify objects, provide context to camera information, and recall the chronology of events to find a lost item.
Google plans to provide more information about new features coming coming to Android 15 later this week.
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