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BUSINESS EYE OCTOBER 13, 2023 | The Indian Eye 35

TECH T@LK

How Google products are now filled with Artificial Intelligence

oogle’s latest products are filled with AI. anyone actually saying the phrase “AI” onstage.
There’s Magic Editor, a photo editing tool There was a lengthy Google Assistant voice con-
Gpowered by generative AI; there’s Conver- trol demonstration, a discussion of computation-
sation Detection, an audio transparency feature al photography, and even a proud boast that the
powered by AI; there are improved heart rate al- phone was “made for mobile virtual reality,” but
gorithms, which, yes, are also powered by AI, ac- seemingly zero explicit mentions of artificial intel-
cording to a report in The Verge. ligence.
Seven years of OS updates? Sounds like a Osterloh was not lying when he said that the
great way to get more AI features from Google. original Google Pixel was AI-powered, but the
New photography features? All AI. Tensor proces- comparison illustrates how differently Google is
sor? “As always, our focus is on making AI more talking about its products and services in 2023 ver-
helpful for everyone, in a way that’s both bold and sus 2016.
responsible,” Google’s hardware chief Rick Os- There are moments in that original Pixel
terloh said in an introduction that, by my count, into its products. But in its eagerness to respond, launch where the Google of today would surely ut-
included the word “AI” over a dozen times. Over Google risks emphasizing the AI-ness of it all at ter “AI,” like when product manager Brian Rakow-
the course of the hour-long launch, Google’s pre- the expense of the useful features that its cus- ski referred to the camera’s “incredible on-device
senters referenced AI over 50 times. Google’s pre- tomers will actually use. software algorithms.” But Google’s 2016 presen-
senters said the phrase “AI” over fifty times during Osterloh inadvertently illustrated this when he tation is less worried about changing perception
hour-long event, according to The Verge. referenced the original 2016 Pixel launch onstage about the company’s technical prowess and more
As early as 2019, AI was already being used as and said how much Google was focused on AI even concerned with what those features mean for po-
a buzzword to sell everything from toothbrushes to back then. “Looking around the room here, I see a tential buyers.
TVs. But Google’s recent presentations have seen few people who were at our first Pixel launch seven The difference is even more stark when com-
the company aggressively position itself as a leader years ago,” Osterloh said, noting that back then, it pared with Apple’s presentations, in which the
in the AI space. had “explained that Pixel is designed to bring hard- company seems to actively avoid saying the two
Critics suggested it had been caught off ware and software together, with AI at the center, magic letters. As my colleague James Vincent
guard by the overnight success of OpenAI’s to deliver simple, fast and smart experiences.” pointed out earlier this year, Apple still makes ref-
ChatGPT and the speed with which competitor Except, when you watch Google’s 20-minute erence to technology that many other companies
Microsoft had integrated the new technology presentation on the original Pixel, you didn’t catch would call AI, according to The Verge.

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