AI is here to stay
If you haven’t watched the Google I/O 2023 keynote, let me summarize it for you in a few words: AI, AI, AI, and some Pixel news near the end. Did I mention AI?
But really, the theme of the keynote was AI and Google’s full adoption of artificial intelligence across nearly all of its hardware and software products, as well as all the ways in which Bard and PaLM 2 will empower our digital lives in the coming years.
Even when Android was mentioned, it was mostly in the context of AI and how it will benefit the software on your Pixel phone in the coming months. With AI-powered personalization and customization features that look like great additions to Android in general, on-device AI is becoming an integral part of our devices. True, Android 14 has been out as a beta for a few months already, but there have to be more features coming to it aside from the ones available, right? Right?
Android and iOS, two of the most popular operating systems in the world, have both matured to the point where we probably shouldn’t expect major new features every year, or every other year. Gradual improvements and general polish of the user experience will probably become the norm rather than the exception.
Pixel 8, where art thou?
What about the Pixel 8 series, or the lack of it at the recent Google I/O? During previous Google keynotes, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing teasers showing us the company’s upcoming fall flagships way ahead of time, be it a mention or a render. However, despite pretty much everyone’s expectation that we’ll get at least a mention of the Pixel 8 series, Google kept mum on its certainly upcoming flagship phones.
Probably Google felt that the announcement of three devices was more than enough, so it left the Pixel 8 teaser for yet another time, possibly alongside the official Android 14 release? But we don’t expect a dedicated keynote for that one, so things no longer make sense?
In any way, Google I/O’23 felt different from previous Google keynotes and could definitely be the blueprint for many similar ones to come in the future. Not that I’m complaining, the sudden onslaught of AI is exciting (though a bit scary at times), but we should probably adjusts our expectations about the future of software events accordingly.
