From Android 12 and Maps to Photos, Health and AI - 5 Key Highlights from Google IO 2021

After taking a break in 2020, Google's developer program, Google I/O came back in May 2021. The tech giant held its virtual developers' conference event at its Mountain View, California HQ to announce several new developments. This year, the launch witnessed quite a lot of upgrades to the existing services like Google Maps, Google Photos and more, enhanced camera app, Project Starline improved WearOS, new artificial intelligence, new security and privacy features and a lot more. Here are Five Key Highlights from the Google IO event that you must know:

1. Google launches a Responsible Next-Gen AI - LaMDA

During the Google IO event, Sundar Pichai praised the efforts of Google in reducing the language barrier on the web with Translation services and Google Assistant. “We’ve also used AI to improve the core Search experience for billions of people,” he added. “Yet, there are still moments when computers just don’t understand us. That’s because language is endlessly complex...LaMDA, our latest research breakthrough, adds pieces to one of the most tantalizing sections of that puzzle: conversation.”

The company announced that they are working on a new language model - LaMDA that’s much better at following conversations in a natural way, rather than as a series of badly formed search queries. What differentiates LaMDA is that it was trained on dialogue. Google has emphasized training it to produce sensible and specific responses. It said that while generic replies like “that’s nice” or “I don’t know” are sensible, they are not good enough. At Google IO, and later in a blog post about LaMDA, the conversational AI didn't just provide direct answers like Google Assistant, but even witty responses. Thus, LaMDA (the AI is still under development) may provide a little more natural in their interactions going forward.

Read More: Project Starline: Google’s realistic holographic touch to conversations

At Google IO, the company also unveiled a new Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara, California. Google aims to build 1,000,000 physical qubits that would work inside an error-corrected quantum computer.

2. Google Maps to become more accessible and smarter

At the Google IO event, the tech giant unveiled that Google Maps will use ML to reduce hard-braking experiences. hard-braking implies slamming hard on your brakes due to sudden traffic jams or confusion about which highway exit to take. That is, Maps will now calculate the best route on a lot of factors, like how many lanes a road has or how direct the route is.

Maps will identify the two fastest route options for you, and then automatically recommend the one with fewer hard-braking moments. Further, the company aims to add accessibility features where Local Guides and Places on the Map, will add whether they are disability-inclusive - like whether it has a wheelchair-accessible entrance, wheelchair-accessible restroom, wheelchair-accessible parking etc.

3. Health.Google for Skin Morbidities, Breast Cancer, and Tuberculosis screening

Globally, skin conditions affect about 2 billion people, approximately 40 million women undergo breast cancer screening in the US alone, and TB infects 10 million people per year. At Google IO, (and even before that) the company has announced that it is working on whether AI could improve the screening process for these diseases.

At I/O, Google shared a preview of an AI-powered dermatology assist tool. It will help the user understand what’s going on with issues related to your skin, hair and nails. Using many of the same techniques that detect diabetic eye disease or lung cancer in CT scans, this tool gets you closer to identifying skin, hair and nail issues using your phone’s camera. For each matching condition, the tool will show dermatologist-reviewed information and answers to commonly asked questions, along with similar matching images from the web. The tool is just to provide you information, not a diagnosis, the company cautioned.

The company also announced that to help catch Tuberculosis early and work toward eventually eradicating it, Google researchers developed an AI-based tool that builds on existing work in medical imaging to identify potential TB patients for follow-up testing. Similarly, in January 2020, the company was already studying the use of AI to detect Breast Cancers via X-ray and CT scan reports. Although the findings have materialised as conclusive proofs, the AI is still under development, the company has noted.

4. Google Photos gets an upgrade at Google IO

Google Photos will get the feature to turn animated photos from still shots and password protection. The latter implies that you can now protect your private pictures using a password. Plus, they won’t appear when you are scrolling through the app. On Pixel, you’ll even have the option to save photos and videos directly to your Locked Folder right from the camera. Google announced upgrades to its camera app, it said that it is working on a feature that would make the camera more inclusive of darker skin tones.

The best of all in Photos. At Google IO, the company announced that now it will use neural networks to synthesize the movement between two nearly identical photos and fill in the gaps with new frames. That is, it will create an animation based on spiralling movements between two images. For example, if you take three close back-to-back shots, Google Photos will draw a parallel to create one animation or GIF.

5. Finally, Android 12 - Material You

Google IO also provided a glimpse into the new design of the Android 12 named “Material You”. The company released the first beta of Android 12 to allow users to check out some of the features. The Android 12 comes with a lot of changes and a personalisation option. On Pixel devices, users will be able to completely personalize their phone with a custom colour palette and redesigned widgets. Google has also simplified the interface for smooth interaction.

“We've also simplified interactions and recrafted the entire underlying system to make your experience more fluid and efficient. Your Android devices are now faster and more responsive with better power efficiency; you can use your device for longer without a charge,” the company said. It added that the notification shade comes as more intuitive and playful. Further, Quick Settings will let you control practically the entire operating system with a swipe and a tap.

Android 12 will also provide a more transparent view of which apps are accessing your data (and what). “We’ve added a new indicator to the top right of your status bar so you know when your apps are accessing your microphone or camera. And if you want to remove app access to these sensors for the entire system, we’ve added two new toggles in Quick Settings.”