Google's Annual Developer Conference 2023 Highlights

By Corporal Punishment

Hey Geeks, did you catch Google's annual developer conference? No? Don't Panic Google released a video covering some major aspects and precisely where Google is going with AI.... Wow, are things going to change for many people? Here are some of the highlights.

First, I found this video ridiculous in its production. If you need to add a clap track to what is supposed to be a live conference --- that is just so 70's sitcom it's annoying. I kept expecting John Ritter to launch onto the stage for a pratfall.

Google unveiled its new and improved Pathways Language Model (PaLM 2), a super-smart AI that can do anything from writing to coding to calculating. It's like having a personal assistant that can speak over 100 languages, handle scientific data sets, and code in 20 programming languages. And it's not just a one-size-fits-all solution, either. Google offers different versions of PaLM 2 fine-tuned for different needs, such as Med- PaLM for medical and Sec - PaLM for security.

Google also announced integrating PaLM 2 into many of its products and features, such as Search, Workspace, and Bard. Bard is an AI chatbot that can help developers with coding problems and even cite its sources. Google plans to connect Bard with other apps and services like Instacart.

Another significant development is Google's use of generative AI in its Search interface. This one is going to have most web publishers up in arms. The intent is that Google can answer multiple queries at once and provide a single, AI-generated best answer. This single response will reduce scrolling through pages of results or clicking lots of links to get a response. Effectively doing away with traditional search results. In a nutshell, Google collates all the scraped search knowledge and then offers personalized answers with ads without seeing the content that created the AI response...Otherwise known as the Authors. Now, to the end user, that is nothing they would care about and probably more convenient - but the days for the independent blogger look like they are on life support. You can be one of the first to try it out here; https://labs.google.com/search/install

Google will also add features to its image search system to help users understand where images come from, when they were first indexed, and where else they can be found. The hope is to use this technology to spot fake or manipulated images.

Google's Magic Eraser for images will also get an AI facelift. Magic Easer is available for Google One accounts and Pixel phones. Not only will it continue to erase photobombers from family photos, but the new AI-enhanced components will be able to create additional, intuitive parts of the photograph to make them better. In the tie example, they recreated a cut-off bench seat in the original photo, centering the image and making it more appealing. Frankly, I wish this was a thing while I spent years learning Photoshop.

Finally, Google introduced Duet AI for Workspace, a suite of AI-powered capabilities that will launch later this year. This suite includes AI-generated slide images in Google Slides, automatic row and column organization in Google Sheets, custom backgrounds in Google Meet, and AI writing assistance in Google Docs.

So there you have it, some of the more notable developments from Google's annual developer conference in the artificial intelligence space. What do you think? Are you impressed by Google's AI innovations, or are they playing catch-up to their rivals? Is this the end of the Internet and human creativity???