Skip to main content

Here are all the biggest Gemini announcements from Google I/O 2024

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on stage at Google I/O talking about Gemini.
Google

Unsurprisingly, AI is front and center at this year’s Google I/O developer conference. The company has just unveiled a more-advanced version of Gemini 1.5 Pro, its powerful generative AI suite. Available for developers starting today, Gemini 1.5 Pro is a multimodal language model that can work with text, voice, and various content formats.

The latest updates to Gemini 1.5 Pro introduce an extended context window, enhanced data analysis features, integrations with additional Google apps, and increased customization options. There are also improvements across crucial use cases, such as translation, coding, reasoning, and more.

Gemini 1.5 Flash

Key features of Gemini 1.5 Flash.
Google

Google also introduced Gemini 1.5 Flash, which is a smaller model that has been optimized for narrower or high-frequency tasks where speed and response time matters the most.

Both 1.5 Pro and 1.5 Flash will now support a 1 million token context window, and Google also has plans to expand that to 2 million on 1.5 Pro. Both models are now available to users across 200 countries as a preview with a general rollout expected to happen in June.

Longer context window

Google I/O stage with a slide on the screen talking about Gemini.
Google

One of the highlight capabilities of Gemini 1.5 Pro is the improved context window of 1 million tokens, which is said to be the longest of any consumer chatbots in the world. What that means is the AI can now comprehend numerous large documents — as much as 1,500 pages, or summarize approximately 100 emails. It will also eventually have the capability to process an hour of video content or codebases exceeding 30,000 lines.

Google also announced that it was even aiming to hit a 2 million token context window by the end of this year, further expanding the AI’s capabilities.

Gemini Live

Google demoes Gemini Live.
Google

To make the AI model feel more natural and intuitive, Gemini will be gaining a new Live feature that lets you have a more-enhanced conversational experience. Not only can you talk to Gemini and make queries but it can also react to a variety of sounds in your environment.

As an example, you can use the Live feature within Gemini to assist in an interview by preparing and rehearsing with you and suggesting key skills to emphasize during the interview. Additionally, upcoming features will allow Gemini to utilize your camera during Live sessions, facilitating discussions about your surroundings.

Deeper integration with apps

A screenshot from Google I/O showing an AI Teammate side by side with the presenter.
Google

Gemini 1.5 Pro will also focus on enhancing the AI chatbot to function as a versatile digital assistant that’s specifically adept at managing daily tasks. To do so Google is integrating Gemini with Google Calendar, Tasks, and Keep, set to roll out soon through extensions introduced in the Bard platform last year.

This will help users to seamlessly perform actions like summarizing emails in Gmail, accessing Google Docs or Drive, and even uploading images for tasks such as adding events to Google Calendar or items to a shopping list on Google Keep. Gemini’s multimodal capabilities and proposed functionalities, like recognizing school event lists from photos or compiling recipe ingredients into shopping lists, offer a streamlined approach to organizing daily responsibilities.

Google even announced a new AI Teammates feature for Workspace users that lets you deploy virtual coworkers across your company or organization.

Personalized Gems

A screenshot from Google I/O with a slide on the screen about Gems.
Google

Gemini Advanced subscribers will soon have the option to craft Gems, a tailored version of Gemini for a more personalized interaction. Whether you need a companion while working out, a cooking assistant, a coding collaborator, or a writing mentor, Gems can be customized to suit your preferences.

By simply outlining the tasks and desired responses, Gemini will refine your instructions with a single click, creating a Gem that caters to your unique requirements.

Gemini touched nearly ever announcement from the keynote, including in the updates to Android, Search, Gmail, Google Lens, Google Photos, and more.

Kunal Khullar
Kunal is a Computing writer contributing content around PC hardware, laptops, monitors, and more for Digital Trends. Having…
Japan finally says goodbye to floppy disks
floppy disks.

Japan's Digital Minister Taro Kono announced late last month that he had successfully scrapped 1,034 government regulations that required the use of floppy disks. According to Reuters, Kono described the achievement as winning "the war on floppy disks" -- though there is apparently one regulation left that still requires their usage.

At a time when younger readers may have never seen or heard of a floppy disk, it seems truly insane that the world's fourth-largest economy still relied on them in over 1,000 different situations. But this has been a long journey for Kono and Japan, which announced its intentions to rid the government of floppy disks in 2022.

Read more
The 5 best gaming laptop deals in Dell’s 4th of July sale
The Dell G15 gaming laptop powered by AMD Ryzen.

While gaming desktops are great, they don't have the same excellent portability as gaming laptops. So, if you've always wanted one of the latter, then these 4th of July sales are the perfect opportunity to grab yourself one. Of course, if you do want to go for a more traditional desktop option that's still from Dell, then these Alienware 4th of July deals are worth taking a look at, while our roundup of the best gaming laptop 4th of July deals should give you a few more options on top of that.
G15 Gaming Laptop -- $1,000, was $1,150

The Dell G15 is probably one of the most popular gaming laptops on the market when it comes to budget-oriented options. In this configuration, you get a solid RTX 406o, which should easily handle the FHD resolution and 165Hz refresh rate of the monitor with minimal graphical compromises. The Intel Core i7-13650HX is also a reasonably powerful CPU that will handle most games just fine, and productivity tasks should be a relative breeze to do on the G15. Similarly, the 16GB of DDR5 RAM means you get some good speed and capacity for having apps and tabs open, while the 1TB SSD is a good start and will probably be enough for a year or so of gaming before you may have to start deleting games or thinking of expansion with an external hard drive deal.

Read more
A surprising new competitor to Google Docs just made its debut
The Proton Mail email app running on an iPad.

Proton, known for its popular email client, has always made it clear that it takes user privacy seriously. And that's the defining feature of a new piece of software in its lineup calle dProton Docs, which the company announced in a blog post on Wednesday.

The latest addition launching today promises to push the envelope and encrypt the file, cursor movements, and keystrokes.

Read more