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At its annual “Made by Google” event, Google unveiled the latest Pixel 9 series smartphones, Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel Buds Pro 2.
The highlight of the event was the introduction of several new AI features debuting with the Pixel 9 series, which will also be extended to previous-generation models via Pixel feature drop updates. These include Gemini Live, Pixel Studio, enhanced Magic Eraser, and several camera-centric AI features.
Here are the major new AI features announced at the Pixel launch event:
Gemini Live is Google’s latest generative AI experience allowing users to interact with Gemini using their voice. This feature is exclusive to users with a Gemini Advanced subscription. Google is offering a complimentary one-year One AI Premium plan with Gemini Advanced access, allowing Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold users to access Gemini Live for free.
Google calls Gemini Live as “a personal assistant that is truly helpful,” providing a conversational experience similar to ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode, recently introduced to ChatGPT+ subscribers. With its multi-modal capability, Gemini Live offers human-like responses, and users can interrupt mid-response to ask specific questions.
To make these conversations sound natural, Google is introducing 10 new voices and users can pick the one that suits their style.
Google is introducing a new image generation tool called Pixel Studio on the Pixel 9 series, allowing users to instantly create images from simple text prompts. Described by Google as “a true creative canvas,” Pixel Studio is powered by an on-device diffusion model running on Tensor G4, combined with Imagen 3 text-to-image processing in the cloud. This feature is expected to roll out to previous-generation Pixel smartphones in the coming days.
Pixel Screenshots is a new AI feature debuting with the Pixel 9 series that helps users recall important information from their saved screenshots. Similar to Microsoft’s Recall on Copilot+ PCs, users need to trigger a specific search to retrieve information from screenshots stored on their Pixel 9 devices.
The Call Note feature on the latest Pixel 9 series can not only record your calls but also transcribe the same using AI and summarise it. This experience is powered by on-device AI capability, which makes it safe and secure, and once activated, everyone on the call will be notified that it is being monitored.
Google is leaving no stones unturned, even the Weather app is getting an AI boost with the Pixel 9 series. Powered by the Gemini nano model running locally on the device, the Weather app not only provides accurate weather information but can also generate custom AI weather reports to keep you informed.
The new Add Me for group photos enables users to add more people to a group photo by combining two pictures into one.
AI is also used to enhance the quality of zoomed-in photos and videos. On the Pixel 9 Pro series, the phones can upscale 4K videos to 8K, enabling users to screen grab 33 MP images from the video. Additionally, Video Boost is a new AI feature that significantly improves the quality of low-light videos, while Super Res Zoom Video allows users to shoot high-quality videos even at 20x magnification.
Magic Editor on Google Photos has been one of the best AI image-editing tools available on smartphones, and with the Pixel 9 series, Google is making it even more powerful. New capabilities include adding objects to a picture and reframing the image after it has been taken.
These are some of the major new AI features announced at Google’s Pixel launch event. While most of these features are exclusive to the Pixel 9 Pro series, some will be made available for the Pixel 8 series in the coming days.
