Google I/O Showed Gemini Still Needs Time to Bake

During the kickoff keynote for Google I/O 2024, the general tone seemed to be, “Can we have an extension?” Google’s promised AI improvements are definitely taking center stage here, but with a few exceptions, most are still in the oven.

That’s not too surprising—this is a developer conference, after all. But it seems like consumers will have to wait a while longer for their promised “Her” moment. Here’s what you can expect once Google’s new features start to arrive.

AI in Google Search

Credit: Google/YouTube

Maybe the most impactful addition for most people will be expanded Gemini integration in Google Search. While Google already had a “generative search” feature in Search Labs that could jot out a quick paragraph or two, everyone will soon get the expanded version, “AI Overviews.”

Optionally in searches, AI Overviews can generate multiple paragraphs of information in response to queries, complete with subheadings. It will also provide additional context over its predecessor and can take more detailed prompts.

For instance, if you live in a sunny area with good weather and ask for “restaurants near you,” Overviews might give you a few basic suggestions, but also a separate subheading with restaurants that have good patio seating.

In the more traditional search results page, you’ll instead be able to use “AI organized search results,” which eschew traditional SEO to intelligently recommend web pages to you based on highly specific prompts.

For instance, you can ask Google to “create a gluten free three-day meal plan with lots of veggies and at least two desserts,” and the search page will create several subheadings with links to appropriate recipes under each.

Google is also bringing AI to how you search, with an emphasis on multimodality—meaning you can use it with more than text. Specifically, an “Ask with Video” feature is in the works that will allow you to simply point your phone camera at an object, ask for identification or repair help, and get answers via generative search.

Google didn’t directly address how its handling criticism that AI search results essentially steal content from sources around the web without users needing to click through the original source. That said, demonstrators highlighted multiple times that these features bring you to useful links you can check out yourself, perhaps covering their bases in the face of these critiques.

AI Overviews are already rolling out to Google users in the US, with AI Organized Search Results and Ask with Video set for “the coming weeks.”

Search your photos with AI

Credit: Google/YouTube

Another of the more concrete features in the works is “Ask Photos,” which plays with multimodality to help you sort through the hundreds of gigabytes of images on your phone.

Say your daughter took swimming lessons last year and you’ve lost track of your first photos of her in the water. Ask photos will let you simply ask, “When did my daughter learn to swim?” Your phone will automatically know who you mean by “your daughter,” and surface images from her first swimming lesson.

That’s similar to searching your photo library for pictures of your cat by just typing “cat,” sure, but the idea is that the multimodal AI can support more detailed questions and understand what you’re asking with greater context, powered by Gemini and the data already stored on your phone.

Other details are light, with Ask Photos set to debut “in the coming months.”

Project Astra: an AI agent in your pocket

Credit: Google/YouTube

Here’s where we get into more pie in the sky stuff. Project Astra is the most C-3PO we’ve seen AI get yet. The idea is you’ll be able to load up the Gemini app on your phone, open your camera, point it around, and ask for questions and help based on what your phone sees.

For instance, point at a speaker, and Astra will be able to tell you what parts are in the hardware and how they’re used. Point at a drawing of a cat with dubious vitality, and Astra will answer your riddle with “Schrödinger’s Cat.” Ask it where your glasses are, and if Astra was looking at them earlier in your shot, it will be able to tell you.

This is maybe the classical dream when it comes to AI, and quite similar to OpenAI’s recently announced GPT-4o, so it makes sense that it’s not ready yet. Astra is set to come “later this year,” but curiously, it’s also supposed to work on AR glasses as well as phones. Perhaps we’ll be learning of a new Google wearable soon.

Make a custom podcast Hosted by Robots

Credit: Google/YouTube

It’s unclear when this feature will be ready, since it seems to be more of an example for Google’s improved AI models than a headliner, but one of the more impressive (and possibly unsettling) demos Google showed off during I/O involved creating a custom podcast hosted by AI voices.

Say your son is studying physics in school, but is more of an audio learner than a text-oriented one. Supposedly, Gemini will soon let you dump written PDFs into Google’s NotebookLM app and ask Gemini to make an audio program discussing them. The app will generate what feels like a podcast, hosted by AI voices talking naturally about the topics from the PDFs.

Your son will then be able to interrupt the hosts at any time to ask for clarification.

Hallucination is obviously a major concern here, and the naturalistic language might be a little “cringe,” for lack of a better word. But there’s no doubt it’s an impressive showcase…if only we knew when we’ll be able to recreate it.

Paid features

Credit: Google/YouTube

There’s a few other tools in the works that seem purpose-built for your typical consumer, but for now, they’re going to be limited to Google’s paid Workspace plans.

The most promising of these is Gmail integration, which takes a three-pronged approach. The first is summaries, which can read through a Gmail thread and break down key points for you. That’s not too novel, nor is the second prong, which allows AI to suggest contextual replies for you based on information in your other emails.

But Gemini Q&A seems genuinely transformative. Imagine you’re looking to get some roofing work done and you’ve already emailed three different construction firms for quotes. Now, you want to make a spreadsheet of each firm, their quoted price, and their availability. Instead of having to sift through each of your emails with them, you can instead ask a Gemini box at the bottom of Gmail to make that spreadsheet for you. It will search your Gmail inbox and generate a spreadsheet within minutes, saving you time and perhaps helping you find missed emails.

This sort of contextual spreadsheet building will also be coming to apps outside of Gmail, but Google was also proud to show off its new “Virtual Gemini Powered Teammate.” Still in the early stages, this upcoming Workspace feature is kind of like a mix between a typical Gemini chat box and Astra. The idea is that organizations will be able to add AI agents to their Slack equivalents that will be on call to answer questions and create documents on a 24/7 basis.

Gmail’s Gemini features will be rolling out this month to Workspace Labs users.

Gems

Credit: Google/YouTube

Earlier this year, OpenAI replaced ChatGPT plugins with “GPTs,” allowing users to create custom versions of its ChatGPT chatbots built to handle specific questions. Gems are Google’s answer to this, and work relatively similarly. You’ll be able to create a number of Gems that each have their own page within your Gemini interface, and each answer to a specific set of instructions. In Google’s demo, suggested Gems included examples like “Yoga Bestie,” which offers exercise advice.

Gems are another feature that won’t see the light of day until a few months from now, so for now, you’ll have to stick with GPTs.

Agents

Credit: Google/YouTube

Fresh off the muted reception to the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1, AI aficionados were hoping that Google I/O would show Gemini’s answer to the promises behind these devices, i.e. the ability to go beyond simply collating information and actually interact with websites for you. What we got was a light tease with no set release date.

In a pitch from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, we saw the company’s intention to make AI Agents that can “think multiple steps ahead.” For example, Pichai talked about the possibility for a future Google AI Agent to help you return shoes. It could go from “searching your inbox for the receipt,” all the way to “filling out a return form,” and “scheduling a pickup,” all under your supervision.

All of this had a huge caveat in that it wasn’t a demo, just an example of something Google wants to work on. “Imagine if Gemini could” did a lot of heavy lifting during this part of the event.

New Google AI Models

Credit: Google/YouTube

In addition to highlighting specific features, Google also touted the release of new AI models and updates to its existing AI model. From generative models like Imagen 3, to larger and more contextually intelligent builds of Gemini, these aspects of the presentation were intended more for developers than end users, but there’s still a few interesting points to pull out.

The key standouts are the introduction of Veo and Music AI Sandbox, which generate AI video and sound respectively. There’s not too many details on how they work yet, but Google brought out big stars like Donald Glover and Wyclef Jean for promising quotes like, “Everybody’s gonna become a director” and, “We digging through the infinite crates.”

For now, the best demos we have for these generative models are in examples posted to celebrity YouTube channels. Here’s one below:

Google also wouldn’t stop talking about Gemini 1.5 Pro and 1.5 Flash during its presentation, new versions of its LLM primarily meant for developers that support larger token counts, allowing for more contextuality. These probably won’t matter much to you, but pay attention to Gemini Advanced.

Gemini Advanced is already on the market as Google’s paid Gemini plan, and allows a larger amount of questions, some light interaction with Gemini 1.5, integration with various apps such as Docs (separate from Workspace-exclusive features), and uploads of files like PDFs.

Some of Google’s promised features sound like they’ll need you to have a Gemini Advanced subscription, specifically those that want you to upload documents so the chatbot can answer questions related to them or riff off them with its own content. We don’t know for sure yet what will be free and what won’t, but it’s yet another caveat to keep in mind for Google’s “keep your eye on us” promises this I/O.

That’s a wrap on Google’s general announcements for Gemini. That said, they also made announcements for new AI features in Android, including a new Circle to Search ability and using Gemini for scam detection. (Not Android 15 news, however: That comes tomorrow.)

All the New Gemini Features Announced at Google I/O

Google I/O has come and gone—at least the main keynote address. Unlike past years, there weren’t too many groundbreaking features announced; rather, the event was mostly focused on Google’s general plans for Gemini and AI going forward.

Those plans include Android as well. Google announced it would be sharing all the details about Android 15 on Wednesday, but during I/O’s inaugural event today, the company did note some general AI changes coming to Android devices.

Circle to Search for homework

Circle to Search isn’t a brand new feature; Google rolled it out earlier this year, as a way for users to start a search for elements on-screen by circling them.

During today’s announcement, however, Google did show off a new feature for Circle to Search: homework help. The tool now recognizes long problems, and can walk students through how to solve them. Say you have a complex math problem in front of you: Circle it, and Gemini will break down the process for you. Sure, the answer is included, but so is the reasoning, so it can be a tool for learning how to solve future problems rather than simply a way to cheat on your homework.

Gemini is now “context aware”

Google was very excited to announce that Gemini is now “context aware” on Android. What they mean by that is Gemini will recognize what you’re currently doing on your phone or tablet when you call up the assistant, and take that into account when returning a result for your query.

In an on-stage example, a demonstrator was in a conversation with a friend who asked if they wanted to play pickleball. The demonstrator jokingly asked if pickleball was playing tennis with a pickle, then pulled up Gemini inside the chat to create a meme of a pickle playing tennis. The friend then sent over a video on how to play pickleball: The demonstrator asked Gemini a question about the game, and, since the AI understood the demonstrator was watching a video, it searched the video for the answer rather than the web at large.

AI for scam prevention

This was my favorite feature of the entire event. Google showed off how Gemini can analyze your phone calls as they’re happening, and warn you of a potential scam. It’s not subtle, either: The demo involved a call from someone impersonating a bank, claiming the demonstrator had suspicious charges on their account. When the demonstrator asked what the charges were and the caller said they couldn’t say over the phone, the phone instantly started buzzing, and an alert appeared warning of the potential scam.

I would love if companies like Google took this idea and ran with it. Scams are so prevalent in digital life already, and they are only getting worse with the rise of generative AI. If companies can use AI technology to fight back against AI scams too, all the better.

Android 15 news is coming tomorrow

Again, this is simply a short list of Gemini features coming to Android in general—not the entire list of changes coming with Android 15. More Android feature news is coming tomorrow, per Google, so keep your eyes open for that.

Five Ways to Make Even Better Meatballs

Not only are meatballs something everyone looks forward to, they also go remarkably well with most dinners. Drop them in soups, nest them in pasta, or toss them in a green salad—there’s no bad place for meatballs. There is, however, the issue of the bad meatball. Since that is not a fate I want for your future dinner, here are my top tips for tender and juicy meatballs every time.

Use bread crumbs

A few months ago, I was lifting more weight in my workouts and trying to eat more protein so I could build. In an effort to pack in as much lean protein as possible, I started to leave out the bread crumbs in my meatball mixture and go full-meat. These were the most dense and rubbery meatballs the world has ever known. Bread crumbs in your mix aren’t just nonsense, they serve a greater purpose for keeping the texture tender.

All animal proteins, whether it be egg proteins or muscle tissue, go through the same denaturing process when cooking. The protein strands tighten up, expel water, and become firmer. This is part of what you see when meat cooking in a pan shrinks. A meatball does all this too, and if there’s nothing breaking up those protein strands, you get a tight, rubbery meatball.

You don’t need much—a quarter cup of breadcrumbs (or even graham crackers), with a bit of liquid for moisture is just the thing to break up these tight protein connections. When you bite into the meatball, the starchy pockets provide easy breaking points, which reads as tenderness to your palate.

KitchenAid Classic Mixing Bowls Set of 3

These nesting mixing bowls work for cookie doughs to meatballs.

Go on, “over-do” the seasoning

I recommend going heavier on seasoning meatballs, especially large batches, than you would with whole meat cuts. Since the seasoning is intended to permeate throughout the meat, instead of just sitting on top like with steak, what seems like a lot of flavor will actually be spread throughout quite a bit of meat real estate.

When in doubt, set up a frying pan next to you while you’re seasoning the mixture. Fry a small patty (the size of a quarter), and taste it. If you need to adjust the flavor, you can do it now. This adds a few minutes to your prep time, but at least you can ensure a properly tasty meatball.

Don’t skimp on the fat

While you can make meatballs out of any meat—beef, pork, chicken, or faux-meat—always consider the fat content. Fats melt down and become the juicy flavor you look forward to in a good meatball. If you’re using beef, pork, turkey, or any combination of these, look for packages labeled with at least 7% fat. In the event that you can only find lean meats, or you prefer proteins like chicken instead of beef, go ahead and add the fat yourself. Use the large holes on a box grater and add a few tablespoons of cold, grated butter to your mixture.

Use a light touch

Once you’ve got all the right ingredients in your bowl, it’s time to smash it all together. While your first instinct might be to reach for a spoon, stay your hand—and then put on a food-safe glove. It’s best to mix with your hands.

Ensuring a tender meatball happens in each stage of its development, and that includes mixing and shaping. You made sure to incorporate breadcrumbs to keep the structure delicate, and add enough fat to avoid dryness; the last thing you want to do is over-mix. Over-mixing will compact the protein and minimize those perfect pockets of breadcrumb and fat you incorporated, sending the meatballs back into rubbery territory. This is all-too-likely with a spoon. Instead, use your hands to lightly break up the meat and gingerly blend the ingredients with your fingers. Shape the meatballs with a light touch too.

Portion the meat evenly

Not only is it important to gently shape the meatballs so they don’t become compacted and tight, but it’s vital to portion the meat into equal sizes. Keeping the meatballs uniform means that they’ll cook at the same rate. If you have large and small meatballs cooking together, the smaller ones are likely to dry out while the bigger ones cook through, especially if they’re baking in the oven.

Cookie Scoop 3-piece Set

The handy release lever makes scooping even easier.

There are two easy ways to keep the meatballs the same size. My favorite way is to use an ice cream disher because it’s quick and it’s easy to see if you’re overfilling the scoop. Be sure not to densely pack the meat when you scoop. If you don’t have a disher or you don’t seem to have the right size, use this trick instead. No fancy tools are necessary, and you can make sure you’re using every last bit of meatball mix. With these tips in mind, you’re well on your way to a top-quality meatball dinner.

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