With AI and New Gadgets, Google Gets Some Mojo Back at Google I/O

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Commentary: The company that pioneered a lot of today's AI technology is bringing it to its top products. AI gives Google a home-field advantage.

It's been rough for months, but with compelling new AI tools and gadgets at Google I/O, the company showed it's got its mojo back.

The search giant has been on the defense despite being able to take a lot of credit for developing the technology powering artificial intelligence. It was OpenAI's ChatGPT and its Bing chatbot cousin from business partner Microsoft that revealed that AI has become useful and creative enough to threaten white-collar jobs.

The low point came with a leaked memo purportedly from an employee who concluded that Google can't win the AI arms race and fretted that Google AI has no moat — a Silicon Valley term for an advantage like patents or experience that protect a business from its competitors.

But lo and behold, it turns out Google really wasn't just sitting around watching AI startups poach its researchers.

Instead, we saw at Google I/O that the company's product teams have been sinking their teeth into AI. Executives mentioned AI 143 times during the two-hour I/O keynote because they had example after example of how Google is using AI in dozens of products like search, Gmail, Google Photos, Google Docs and Google Cloud.

More from Google I/O
Google I/O's Big Reveals: Pixel Fold, 7A, Android 14, AI and More
Google Pixel Fold Hands-On: Samsung Has New Competition
Google Reveals Its AI-Powered Search Engine to Keep Up With Competition
Android 14: The Biggest Features Announced at Google I/O 2023
AI, despite near-term and long-term worries, offers real utility. With a marriage of computer scientists, data centers and products, Google is showing it can deliver that utility to many corners of our lives.

At the same time, Google's Pixel line of hardware products is showing new promise. Here's a look at what's up.

2023-05-15 20:56:59