I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Google’s latest products are packed with AI.There is magic editor, a photo editing tool powered by generative AI.There is conversation detection, an AI-powered audio transparency feature.has been improved heart rate algorithmyes, it is Also Powered by AI.
First OS update in 7 years?Seems like a great way Get more AI capabilities from Google. New photo feature? All AI. Tensor processor? Designed for AI, baby! “As always, we are focused on making AI more useful for everyone in bold and responsible ways,” Google’s head of hardware Rick Osterloh said in a statement. By my count, the word “AI” was mentioned in the introduction more than a dozen times. . During the hour-long presentation, the Google presenter mentioned AI more than 50 times.
Google presenter said the phrase “AI” more than 50 times during the hour-long event
Already in 2019, AI was being used as a buzzword to sell everything from toothbrushes to televisions.However, Google’s recent presentation showed that the company actively Establish your position as a leader in the AI field. Critics suggested that OpenAI may have been caught off guard by the overnight success of ChatGPT and the speed with which competitor Microsoft integrated the new technology into its products. However, in its eagerness to respond, Google risks emphasizing its AI-ness at the expense of useful features that customers actually use.
Osterloh inadvertently mentioned this on stage when he referenced the launch of the first Pixel in 2016 and talked about how focused Google was on AI even back then. “As I look around the room here, I see some of you who were at our first Pixel launch seven years ago,” Osterloh said. “It was designed to integrate.” A center that provides a simple, fast and smart experience. ”
However, when I went back to see Google’s 20-minute presentation on the original Pixel, I didn’t see anyone actually say the phrase “AI” on stage. There was a lengthy demonstration of Google Assistant’s voice control, a discussion of computational photography, and even a proud boast that the phone was “built for mobile virtual reality,” but there was no explicit mention of artificial intelligence. There didn’t seem to be any.
This isn’t to say that Osterloh was lying when he said the original Google Pixel was powered by AI, but this comparison does reflect what Google would be saying about its products and services in 2023 and 2016. It shows how different things are. The announcement of the original Pixel had its moments: Today, he says Google will no doubt say “AI,” like when his manager of products, Brian Rakowski, mentioned the camera’s “incredible on-device software algorithms.” But Google’s 2016 presentation was less concerned with changing perceptions of the company’s technological capabilities than with what those features meant for potential buyers.
The difference is even more pronounced when compared to Apple’s presentation, where Apple seems to actively avoid saying the two magic letters. As my colleague James Vincent pointed out earlier this year, Apple still refers to technology that many other companies would call AI, but it’s much more subtle and calls it “machine learning.” using the “calm and technically accurate” phrase.
The company likes to highlight the capabilities of machine learning and highlight the benefits it provides to its users, just like any company with high customer satisfaction. As Tim Cook said in an interview on Good Morning America today, “We’re integrating it into our products.” [but] People don’t necessarily think of it as AI. ”
Google, by contrast, has no such concerns.
I don’t think this is a big problem in most cases. As long as the Pixel Watch 2’s heart rate algorithm is accurate, who cares how it works? And in the end, the results of the Pixel 8’s photo pipeline should speak for themselves, regardless of how much “AI” was involved along the way.
But there were also moments during this week’s presentations when I asked myself if we should do that. Really We needed some of the AI-powered features that Google showed off. In a segment about virtual assistants powered by Google’s new generative AI, Google’s girlfriend Sissie Hsiao shows off how Assistant with Bard automatically generates social media posts for her that are accompanied by photos of her dog Baxter. did.
“King Baxter on the Hill!” Accordingly, the Bard’s assistants were drafted into service. “See who’s on top of the world! #doglover #majestic #hikingdog.”
It makes sense as a tech demo of generative AI. AI is getting better and better at recognizing and explaining images, and one of the biggest strengths of generative AI is that it can adapt certain styles (particularly clichéd styles like hilarious social media image captions) is to write sentences.
However, if you ignore the AI part and consider this purely as a smartphone function, I think it is completely incomprehensible.how is it earth Are we at the point where it makes sense for our smartphones to draft our personal social media posts? What’s the point? If you want a machine to draft image captions for your photos, why publish the captions in the first place? What are we doing here?
I have a theory: In the absence of a killer app for generative AI, Google is throwing features at the wall and seeing what sticks. It feels like the search giant has a hammer called “generative AI,” and its quest for the nail is taking it to some strange places. That’s before we get into the troubling implications of incorporating generative AI directly into his Google Photos.
This begs the question: who is Google trying to impress when it comes to AI? It is clear that “AI-enabled smartphones” have some level of appeal to potential customers. ChatGPT didn’t become an overnight success. Clearly, there is some desire to know what all the fuss is about AI.
But I don’t think that’s all. Not when you say the phrase “AI” on average more than once every minute and 15 seconds during a smartphone launch, or when your biggest competitor (Apple) avoids it. That’s totally saying it.
Rather, it seems to reflect Google’s anxiety to avoid being seen as being left out in the midst of AI hype. When Microsoft announced it would integrate generative AI into Bing, CEO Satya Nadella positioned it as a direct attack on Google. “We hope that our innovation will make sure they want to come out and show that they can dance,” Nadella said. “And we want people to know that we made people dance.” Since then, Google has enthusiastically tap danced in every presentation.
None of this matters to Pixel owners or potential buyers of Google’s hardware. But while Google can call itself an AI company all it wants, people ultimately just want smartphones packed with useful features. At some point, there is a danger that AI technology will put the cart before the horse.