Top Announcements From the Google I/O 2018 Conference

The Google I/O 2018 conference has finally started with some big announcements from the tech giant.

On Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off the Google I/O 2018 conference with a keynote speech filled with announcements and the latest offerings of the company. If you were not able to watch the event yesterday, don’t worry because Edgy Labs got that covered for you.

Here are some of the most significant announcements from the conference’s first day.

Google AI

Moments before the highly anticipated keynote speech, the company announced that it will be rebranding the Google Research division to Google AI. The move fully reflects the undeniable focus and effort that Google has in developing its computer vision, natural language, and neural network technologies.

Read More: New Google AI Division Differs From Microsoft AI Approach

Google Assistant

During the Google I/O 2018 conference keynote speech, Pichai announced the continuous updates that Google Assistant will receive to enhance its conversation capabilities further and make it more natural. You will no longer have to say “Hey Google” or “OK Google” all the time when you give commands to your Assistant-powered device. Instead, you will only do it once.

Aside from that, the Google Assistant will also sport a new feature that will enable users to ask multiple questions within the same request. The company also said that Assistant would have more control over the smart displays that they will be launching in July.

Google also showcased the Assistant’s capability to set appointments and bookings on behalf of a user. It could also make phone calls in the background and converse independently with a person on the other line. While this functionality is still in the development phase, the company said that it would be releasing it as an experiment soon.

Here’s a video below of the Assistant booking a hair appointment over the phone which really shows how far the AI has come.

Read More: Google I/O 2018 Conference: What to Expect and Live Updates

Android P

As expected, Google’s latest operating system, the Android P, was introduced yesterday at the Google I/O conference 2018. According to the company, the newest version of the Android OS is built on simplicity, wellbeing, and intelligence.

The Android P reportedly has an adaptive battery that learns the usage pattern of apps and adjusts the battery according to the most efficient path available. It can also change the brightness of a device based on the user’s brightness preference together with the ambient lighting.

The new Android OS can also declutter the home screen by utilizing the latest gesture-based controls instead of the navigation bars and icons. It can also track a user’s time spent on a device, making suggestions if it’s necessary to stop.

ML Kit

During the Google I/O 2018 conference, Google also announced the ML Kit, a new software development kit that developers can use on both iOS and Android when integrating pre-built, machine learning Google models into apps. It supports text recognition, barcode scanning, face detection, image labeling, and landmark recognition.

Google Photos

Google Photos, according to the company, will get a few AI tricks with a new option called “Suggested Actions.” It can reportedly do the following:

• Share photos automatically with the people included in the image.
• Fix the brightness of photos that are underexposed.
• Convert photos of documents to PDF.
• Colorize old black and white photos automatically.

Stay tuned as we will be covering more announcements and happenings at the Google I/O 2018 conference.

What more do you expect from the Google I/O 2018 conference?