It was way back in 1998 that Google came into being with a product that would change the way the world used the internet. It brought the functionality of Google Search to the world. Google search made the enormous World Wide Web minimize to a bite-sized chunk of a search results page. It was an uncomplicated interface which did not come in the system of the people. This system made living so easy that Googling became an Oxford dictionary-approved verb. Since then, somehow everything Google came out with had been related to simplicity that prevails. The mission to make lives simpler by means of technology showed in every product of the company. It’s no surprise thus, that after serving people get around in the web, introducing the world’s most popular mobile operating system, and providing accessibility via its cloud storage service, the next logical step would be to make machines and bots servile to humans.
19 year after introducing the Google search, Google is now putting their bet in the AI basket. Almost every Google product has been infused with neural nets which now act as the behavior or habits of the users they serve and become smarter and better. Deep data and machine learning permitted Google to provide the highest quality service to almost a billion users. And now they are getting the results in hand.
Now people can notice that OK Google conversations are now more like an actual conversation with another face? That’s because Google’s AI has been intelligent at work and it works in advance. Since July 2016, the incorrect word rate has lessened from 8.5 per cent to 4.9 per cent.In case of Google maps also, if one taps anywhere, on any street, on the map and Google will show the address of the place because the AI inside the Maps app has been trained to analyse Google’s Street View photos to locate addresses of streets and houses. The YouTube suggestions and recommendations are now customized more to what someone have recently watched or what is currently playing on your device and they suggest one the same way. Like similar music or another interview of the same person - more of what the end user would want. Google’s Pixel camera is a window to what AI can do to photos. The HDR+ camera mode can upscale grainy images shot in the dark and make them faultless.
Google Assistant is now more promising and advanced, right from the beginning. The AI butler debuted last year on the Google Pixel and it almost threatened to capture the whole market. The biggest competition to all the existing voice assistants. It leveraged one’s voice as a medium of input. Few days back, Google introduced Google Lens. Now it can focus on one’s vision. Google Assistant will now see through the camera and augment it with smart suggestions and actions. It is also no more a highly moderated space. The CEO, Mr. Sundar Pichai brought in Google Assistant SDK which will allow anyone to integrate Assistant to their devices. Anyone can now have the support of Assistant in their work.
With AI, Google can now not only arrange the photos but also can enhance them. In Google Photos, machine learning recognises faces, sceneries, moments, objects and arranging photos on the basis of them. It can also remove obstructions too. Say, one takes a photo of a lion in a zoo, but there’s the cage that’s coming as any hindrance. Machine learning can now automatically remove the nets from the photo giving you a flawless capture.
And then Google went ahead and announced a deal. Google’s AI is now being opened up to be used by anyone. All of Google’s machine learning knowledge can be acquired by chemists, biologists, pathologists, researchers and more to train their own AI models which can potentially help detect cancer better, improve gene sequencing capabilities, run high volume research models and more.
In Android too, AI is working hard to make it a much more user friendly interface and to make the experience better. It will speed up the booting time of Smartphone. It will autofill data and details based on context. And then there’s smart text selection. Android O can look for common things that one can copy off a piece of paper. Names, numbers, addresses. When someone will hover the phone over the paper, Android will highlight the text and copy it in the device.
In Short, Google is keen on showing the new magic to the market that can now be pointed as the best of the lot. Welcome to the future, people. A New Era.
