Huge Free AI Upgrade For All Android Users

 Google Suddenly Reveals Huge Free AI Upgrade For All Android Users

The Google Vs Apple Vs Facebook battle on your smartphone is about to take an exciting new twist. Google has just revealed a huge AI upgrade which could change the way you use your device. The tech giants behind the most popular smartphone OS and app ecosystems have spent years battling for messaging. There are no other apps matching WhatsApp or iMessage or Google Messages. They are the centre of your social network. Google’s latest release will be a game-changer.  As Samsung starts floating the idea of a paywall for its own smartphone AI offerings, here comes Google with something more game-changing. How about incorporating Bard directly into its core messaging platform. A readymade UI and user base. No new apps to install or complex productivity app extensions to master. This is ChatGPT-like simplicity, pre-installed on every Android smartphone. 

Google is reportedly planning to incorporate its Language Learning Model (LLM) directly into its messaging platform, Google Messages. This AI upgrade will allow users to write messages, translate languages, identify images and explore interests. The move is seen as a game-changer, providing a shop window for Google's advertising ecosystem and potentially revolutionizing AI-driven search. However, the upgrade also raises privacy concerns as Google Messages chats with Bard, the AI, are not end-to-end encrypted and Google will store user data to improve its algorithms. The tech giant has not yet announced an official release date for Bard in Google Messages, but it is expected to be available sometime in 2024.

Important Features:-

Google is planning to incorporate its Language Learning Model (LLM) directly into the messaging platform of Android smartphones, offering a significant AI upgrade.

While the initial features may include AI text composition and image recognition, the ultimate goal is to enable AI chatbot driven search, turning chat into commerce driven search requests.

Google Messages chats with Bard, the AI model, are not secured by end-to-end encryption, and Google will store user data and use it to improve its algorithms.

The AI upgrade will connect Messages users with Google, not just with one another, potentially transforming the way users search for information and interact with advertising.

Google has spent two-years pushing its Messages app as the default Android alternative to iMessage. This has included end-to-end encryption and RCS by default, and multiple feature releases. Now an AI upgrade which connects Messages users with Google, not just with one another. According to Bard itself, this “promises to be a game-changer for how we communicate. It's an AI assistant that can improve your messaging experience in various ways, from facilitating communication to enhancing creativity and providing information. It will be your personal AI assistant within your messaging app.” There were hints last year that Google might be looking at bringing Bard into Messages. But there are reports that Bard is indeed “coming to Google Messages to ‘help you write messages, translate languages, identify images and explore interests’.

There are a raft of obvious tasks this could simplify—creating a recipe or drafting a text for your boss are two of the examples given. When ChatGPT was released, you’ll remember the Google Search obituaries that came thick and fast. The future of web search was not going to be browser-based. It would be interactive. Google’s patchy rush to release Bard followed. To begin, you’ll likely experiment with AI text composition, image recognition, simple information requests—but make no mistake, AI chatbot driven search is the actual aim. The AI models need more advanced structuring to turn chat into workable commerce requests, but the end will justify the means / investment.

According to Bard, “it can be your handy shopping sidekick in several ways… It can suggest thoughtful and unique gift ideas… It can compare different models, highlight key features and specs, and find reviews and ratings from real users, It can scour online stores and social media to show you what's hot and where to find it. It can track prices across different retailers to ensure you are getting the best bang for your buck. It can also alert you to price drops and coupons for items you are interested in.” This looks like delivering on Google Allo’s intent that floundered given its inability to properly combine its assistant and messaging. Google isn’t unique, of course. Telegram has chatbot options, including ChatGPT front-ends. The really interesting question is how will Apple and WhatsApp respond. Clearly, there are elements of Siri integration into iMessage, albeit that’s limited to messaging itself. It’s not a direct comparison, but would be easily enough enabled.

WhatsApp is positioned more interestingly within Meta’s stable. It’s clear that Meta will be able to bring something like this to WhatsApp easily enough. Because Google leads the world’s largest and most valuable search and advertising ecosystem, it’s ready to go. But Facebook has its own network and can do the same. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are also both cross-platform and more widely adopted than Google Messages. This would bring a new angle to Meta’s monetization. The issue is that when your AI chatbot is driven by an advertising giant, you are risking a limited and far from independent experience, a Google search window without the immediate option to scan beyond the advertiser results.

But the alternative is Samsung- or ChatGPT-like subscription charges for AI features and services. And we know that users will sacrifice a heap of privacy for “free”. AI in messaging will enable the same business model which is behind search and many other services. Advertisers will pay to reach you, the services will be free. This challenge in narrowing down search results to chat responses in an AI interface; “Many users of web search engines complain about the supposedly decreasing quality of search results… Evidence for this has always been anecdotal, yet it’s not unreasonable to think that popular online marketing strategies such as affiliate marketing incentivize the mass production of such content to maximize clicks.”  All search engines have significant problems with highly optimized (affiliate) content… more than is representative for the entire web.

This is not specific to Google and the researchers also examined Bing and DuckDuckGo over the course of twelve months. Ironically, given Google’s focus on integrating generative AI and search, the researchers warn that this is a “situation that will surely worsen in the wake of generative AI.” We have all become conditioned to judging the likely independence of search results as set out in our browsers, and we have learned to scan such results as today’s shop window equivalents. But in a world when you ask a chatbot “where’s the best place to buy a Samsung TV,” or “what’s the best pizza restaurant in Denver,” the format of your results will be very different. 

The AI update coming to Google Messages is part of a trend and you can expect multiple such AI add-ons to come thick and fast, especially with Google driving much of the momentum. This should be good news for Android users. We have just seen an official Chrome announcement on the introduction of three new helpful AI releases making their way into beta. Automated tab management and theme creation sound good, but it’s the Help me Write feature within Chrome that’s likely to be the most useful, especially on an Android mobile device.

We have also seen GMail’s own Help Me Write feature adapted to combine AI and voice, “Gmail's ‘Help Me Write’ can help you draft emails with ease and definitely can save you some time. Currently the functionality is available on both web and apps, but you have to write the email prompt yourself using the keyboard. On the Gmail app for Android, Google is working on a feature which will let you draft emails with voice [prompts].” And there was the earlier news that Android Auto will use AI to intelligently filter information in and out of the system. Many positives, clearly, but that core risk in narrowing search results isn’t the only word of warning here. Google Messages chats with Bard are not secured by end-to-end encryption, and Google will store your data and use it to improve its algorithms. Just as with other such models. No news yet on timing, but most probably it isn’t far away.