Google is bringing a suite of new AI tools to the market, including generative AI that summarizes articles.
The firm also plans to launch a multifunctional generative AI that creates both text and image capabilities and is hoped to do much more. Google co-founder Sergey Brin is heading up the Gemini project, with further details expected later in the year.
A new product for Chrome
Google Chrome just received a major update allowing users to summarize articles for brevity and speed.
The new feature is part of Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) under the name of “SGE while browsing.” The feature creates a digest of an article’s content in bullet point form, which the user can use to navigate the piece and find relevant information more quickly.
Rany Ng, VP of Product Management, Search, explained the intricacies of the service in a blog released Tuesday, August 15.
As Ng explains it, SGE while browsing “was specifically designed to help people more deeply engage with long-form content from publishers and creators, and make it easier to find what you’re looking for while browsing the web.”
Ng emphasized that the service does not create AI bullet points for articles behind paywalls, only working on freely available online content.
“On some web pages you visit, you can tap to see an AI-generated list of the key points an article covers, with links that will take you straight to what you’re looking for directly on the page. We’ll also help you dig deeper with ‘Explore on page,’ where you can see questions the article answers and jump to the relevant section to learn more,” she said.
The new feature will roll out on Android and iOS before coming to Chrome on desktop PC.
Google’s Gemini project
Summarizing articles is not the limit of Google’s ambitions in the field of AI. The company has been playing catchup in the AI race since ChatGPT launched in 2022, but it is not content to play second fiddle in perpetuity.
Google wants its own generative AIs to take on every competitor in the field. The company has already made strides to that effect. Google already launched Bard, an AI chatbot directly competing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
According to an anonymous source from the company who spoke to The Information, Google now hopes to surpass the competition with its latest AI project, named Gemini.
As described, Gemini combines large language model (LLM) technology with AI image generation to produce a powerful new suite of AI tools. Gemini will initially create text and contextual image outputs, competing with existing tools such as ChatGPT, MidJourney, and, to some degree its own chatbot, Bard.
The full list of Gemini’s capabilities will emerge before year’s end, with an official announcement expected in the Fall. Among the rumored advances is the ability to analyze a flow chart or to control software by voice.
Notably, Gemini is being worked on by former Google Brain and DeepMind team members. Senior Google researcher Paul Barham bolsters the team’s credentials, as does Tom Hennigan of DeepMind.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is personally taking charge of the project, highlighting its importance to the firm’s future.
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