Google held their annual Keynote and the AI world is going crazy. A lot of Google I/O 2018 was focused on Google’s assistant and how they are leading the way for new and smarter devices. Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke about how the company recognises their obligation to be responsible for the things that the tech industry creates.
Firstly, Smart Displays. We have seen this already with the likes of Amazon Show and Amazon Spot. Googles take on the smart displays will blow the competition away. Alexa and Google Assistant are the top two smart assistants in the industry, with Siri and Cortana falling further and further behind. Google has the upper hand in Smart Displays for many reasons. The main reason being the ownership of YouTube. With a smart display linked to your Google and YouTube accounts video, music and entertainment would be perfectly matched to you. This is all possible due to Google’s immense Artificial Intelligence.
Healthcare
The conference also had a focus on AI and healthcare and the companies efforts towards the use of artificial intelligence to assist patients. Pichai stated during the events that “Healthcare is one of the most important fields AI is going to transform.”. This statement was backed up by talking about Google’s work on detecting diabetic retinopathy by interpreting retina images. He said that this technology could also predict up to five years of adverse cardiovascular issues. AI in healthcare could save thousands of patients lives around the world and push the healthcare industry forward to places they would never have reached with just humans.
Maps
Google Maps tends to be everyone’s go-to maps application. The child of Google Earth serves us with ease every day and it is about to get better. Google Maps is becoming a lot more social and focusing on other platforms such as Foursquare and Yelp. These features will introduce a new section of the App called ‘For You” allowing you to follow neighbourhoods and see trending locations. The application will also feature new AR arrows that will appear live on screen pointing which direction to go, making getting lost a lot more interesting.
Android P
Googles mobile OS is stock android which revolves around the use of Google Assistant and all of Googles other services such as Google Photos, Google Drive etc. Android P is the latest update of the operating system and promises to give users of phones such as the Pixel the best experience. most Android users have used the triple button navigation at the bottom of the display, Android P rids of this and users gestures much like iOS on the iPhone X. ‘Dashboard’ has been introduced in the settings displaying information like how many times one has unlocked their phone and how much time is being spent on apps. The dashboard is part of something that Android is calling ‘Digital Wellbeing’ which seems like a slight contradiction considering Google are working extremely hard to make AI perfect and encourage you to use your devices more but also simultaneously letting you know that you are using your devices too much.
Google has become the leaders for Artificial Intelligence, it almost seems like you cannot use a Google device and not have the help of an assistant, which in some cases is excellent but also worries people about privacy. The introduction of Google Duplex will be something to look forward to as it goes above and beyond everything we already have in regards to artificial intelligence. Android P and the other announcements at Google I/O 2018 are definitely things to be excited for especially as other companies like Apple and Samsung have a lot of work until they reach that sort of sophistication in the AI area.
Are you more interested in Google and Android after their Keynote? Let us know at @Applemagazine.
