Google Pixel 10's AI Features: A Mixed Bag of Innovation and Disappointment

This failed feature crushed my optimism about the Pixel 10

The Pixel 10 is here, and it's great. Google has built on the strengths of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 to release a fantastic lineup of phones that make the iPhone 17 look derivative and tired. Still rocking a Pixel 8, I kept a close eye on the launch of the Pixel 10, especially after a slew of leaks indicated that it would be a substantial hardware and software upgrade over the Pixel 9. What intrigued me most about the Pixel 10 before launch was the rumored Gemini-powered features. I haven't yet seen a Gemini feature that has made me want to buy the latest Pixel, but the Pixel 10 promised a substantial suite of AI features that caught my eye. Unfortunately, after we had the devices in our hands, they turned out to be as underwhelming as ever. What the Pixel 10 promised for Gemini AI features you wouldn't have to try to use After years of dismissing most AI features touted by phone manufacturers, I found that Nothing piqued my interest with the subtly powerful tools on its Phone 3. Nothing showed that AI can be a powerful tool in your everyday life, but the Nothing Phone 3's success relied on its restrained approach to AI. Compare this with the Samsung S25 launch, which attempted to blow our minds with two poorly thought-out and ill-executed AI tools: Now Brief and Now Bar. Google was, therefore, in a perfect place to impress us with AI on the Pixel 10. Armed with knowledge of Samsung's failures and Nothing's successes, Google had everything it needed to release AI features that would work for everyone, not just enthusiasts and power users. The flagship AI feature on the Pixel 10 is Magic Cue. This always-on feature attempts to bring up relevant information for what's on your screen. AP's Stephen Radochia noted in his Pixel 10 review that when a friend texted him to make plans, Magic Cue immediately brought up a shortcut to his calendar. If someone asks you for photos from a trip, Magic Cue will provide a shortcut to the Photos app with relevant photos already selected. Daily Hub was the answer to Samsung's Now Brief. This tool would appear each morning and evening, drawing together reminders, weather reports, and important notifications. Samsung's version of this was mostly useless, so I was excited to see how Google would respond. At this point, I should know better than to be optimistic about AI features. At least I didn't preorder the Pixel 10. Google is making inexcusable mistakes Did Google miss the Galaxy S25? Daily Hub lasted a few weeks before Google pulled it from public access. Google issued a statement explaining that it was "working to enhance its performance and refine the personalized experience" to "ensure the best possible experience on Pixel." Somehow, Google managed to make this feature even worse than Samsung's. There's a lot that went wrong with it, but it's the weather report that neatly summarised how useless it was. In the morning, Daily Hub would tell you the temperature with no hourly forecasts or relevant news. It's so underwhelming that it's surprising Google thought it was ready for public release. Magic Cue, on the other hand, works great, but only if you use a select few Google apps. As AP's Andy Boxall wrote in his Pixel 10 Pro XL review, if you use a third-party app like WhatsApp, and you don't write your notes in Keep, the feature goes unused. I'm sure this is due to Google requiring permission from developers to let Magic Cue monitor their apps, but the result goes against the core principles of Android. How is AI going to revolutionize my phone when I can only work with a few Google-friendly apps? It's also worth pointing out Camera Coach. Did you know that it's good to center your subject in your camera's viewfinder? Well, Camera Coach can tell you, but only if you have a data connection. It's only capable of providing beginner-level photography advice, rendering it useless if you've ever handled a camera before. The Pixel 10 proves again that Google still hasn't learned The Pixel 10 was Google's best chance to impress us with AI on Android. It doesn't take much work to see what features are resonating with people online, so it's baffling how Google managed to release a product as half-baked as Daily Hub. I know Google can make a good AI product; NotebookLM is my favorite example of successful AI software. I know Google can make good hardware; the Pixel 10 is a premium device that rivals the latest iPhones. I know Google can make good software; Material 3 Expressive is my favorite update to Android in years. So why can't Google combine the three? Google is trapped in the AI arms race; it doesn't matter if a feature is underbaked or simply doesn't work; what matters is that progress appears to be made. For now, I'll sink back into my comfortable, warm bath of AI apathy. Don't interrupt me with new AI products, Google. I know you don't have anything to offer.

AI Slop Has Shattered My Trust in Google Pixel Phones

I have long not been a Google guy, but I still considered Pixel phones to be devices I could easily recommend to others. Google's approach to AI has changed that. I no longer feel comfortable using or recommending these phones. There Were Many Reasons to Recommend Pixel Phones Google Pixel phones are the successors to Google's previous Nexus line of devices. Nexus phones were meant to showcase Android without the modifications that most Android phone makers applied. These were darling devices for those of us who didn't want Samsung's TouchWiz or HTC Sense, but stock Android. The Pixel brand was never about Android. Instead, it's about showcasing Google, which is why I personally have never wanted a Pixel phone. I love Android, but as I mentioned at the top, I'm no fan of Google. I know -- that's unusual in Android world, but I'm no fan of Apple either. Android is a far more diverse ecosystem to play in even if you're someone who removes Googles from their phone. Yet to other people who just want a phone with a relatively simple interface, that doesn't cost a lot, and comes with many years of software support -- it has been hard not to recommend a Pixel. They're not bad phones. The fact that they serve as the target for so many custom ROMs is another big appeal that even tempts privacy nerds like me. Google Has Been Reckless With New AI Features With the evolution of the attention economy and the ever-invasive nature of ad-tech, using a smartphone has felt like an exercise in guarding myself against my own device. I uncheck most boxes and decline almost everything I can during the initial setup process. I remove most of the Google bloatware that companies have been forced to ship if they want to provide access to the Play Store. Google is concerned about keeping my data private, but preferably on its servers. It wants to safeguard my information by being the only one allowed to mine it. AI has taken the need for vigilance to a whole new level. Google doesn't just want me to use its various services. It wants me to funnel more of my life into Gemini and various AI tools. And while I abandoned Gmail and Google apps years ago, at least those services were good and reliable -- I only ditched them over concerns about privacy. With AI, it's not just privacy I'm concerned about, but quality. I reviewed the Pixel 9 Pro last year, and it was the only product I've felt disturbed to cover in-depth, in large part due to Pixel Studio being a main feature to test. Here was a tool that would turn a few lines of text into what are often unintentionally grotesque images. I walked away disgusted that a company would ship this on a phone to millions of people. Like Generative AI in General, the Results Can't Be Trusted In my limited time with the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel Studio got far more images wrong than it got right. A request for house keys would get me keys shaped like a house. Asking for a laptop got me the keyboard half off the device with no screen. And when I asked for a hand with five fingers, it showed me a human hand with seven. My editor advised me to leave the last one out, but here are examples of the other issues from my Pixel 9 Pro review for MakeUseOf. Pixel Studio was introduced alongside last year's Pixel. What about the Pixel 10? The big headline software features this time around are Magic Cue and 100x AI-enhanced zoom. Are they good? That depends on how you feel about AI. Magic Cue thankfully relies on on-device processing only, but it's hit or miss at delivering its promised auto-suggestions based on what it sees on-screen. As for 100x zoom, well, zooming in to text turns letters into tell-tale AI gibberish, which is enough of a deal-breaker for me. I don't want a photo gallery where I can't tell which photos are real and which are primarily AI-generated. Then there's Gemini itself. Like any AI chatbot, it can be described as truthy rather than truthful. It gets things right often enough to become a tool you depend on, but the fastest way to realize its shortcomings is to ask it a question about something you know a lot about. When you see just how much it gets wrong there, that's enough to make me uncomfortable relying on it for the stuff I know much less about. I would rather test my luck looking for answers in search results -- the service that Google is rapidly degrading and cannibalizing. Like my colleague Tim Brooks, who doesn't use AI despite the hype from seemingly everyone around him, I find the results AI delivers to be reason alone to be tired of this whole fad. I Ignore These Features, But I Can't Assume Others Will When I asked Pixel Studio for images of copyrighted characters, it showed them, and often in malformed ways. I could not imagine giving this device to a child, even an older one, for reasons all too similar to why I don't let my kids use YouTube Kids. We were recommending safe alternatives to YouTube Kids almost a decade ago, and Google still hasn't solved the problem. But in the case of Pixel Studio, it's not Google's failure to filter out disturbing videos made by pranksters that's the issue -- Google is now the one generating disturbing imagery. I don't want my kids becoming dependent on generative AI at a stage in their lives when their mindset is still "adults made this, so it must be good." It takes years of first-hand experience to discern just the ways adults will let you down, and the rampant distribution of AI tools to minors is one. Yet this is not merely a "think about the children" scenario. As a tech enthusiast, I know about all of this stuff, how to avoid it, and that these features exist to be disabled in the first place. Most normies just use the products that are offered. I don't want to give these tools to my parents or peers any more than I want to give them to my kids. AI Is Ruining Pixel Phones Just as the Hardware Is Getting Great There are many tragedies here, but one is the timing. Pixel hardware is finally crushing it. The Pixel 9 was a delightful phone to hold. The Pixel 10 continues that refinement and adds Pixel Snap, introducing support for MagSafe accessories. In a sign of just how far we've come since the Nexus days, I now envy Pixel hardware more than Apple's. There are quite a few Pixel hardware features I hope others copy. It's at this moment of peak Google hardware (and even peak Android software with an attractive design like Material 3 Expressive), that the main focus has shifted to unreliable and energy-intensive AI tools. To be clear, Google's AI tools aren't uniquely bad. Just the opposite -- they're some of the best. But unlike Apple, a company begrudgingly being pushed to introduce AI by its shareholders, Google is enthusiastically leading the charge. For Google, concerns about accuracy and quality are secondary to being first and attracting as many users as possible. Google has shown me, through the rampant data harvesting of its many services, and now with its wide deployment of AI tools that generate sometimes inaccurate or disturbing results, that it's not a tech company whose decisions I trust. And that makes it hard for me, in good conscience, to recommend the phone whose reason for being is to showcase those very features.

I didn't buy the Pixel 10 Pro for this feature -- but now I use it every day

I'll be the first to admit that I've been slow to adapt to the AI craze of the last few years. Maybe it's because I'm a writer, or because the technology has been so prone to errors, or because AI experts keep talking about how it has the potential to create an extinction-level event for humans. Either way, the productivity potential of AI simply hadn't landed for me just yet, and I had very little intention of using it for everyday tasks, even after I purchased the notably AI-powered Google Pixel 10 Pro. However, in just the first week, the ease with which Google has made it possible to engage with its Gemini platform piqued my curiosity, and I started testing it out. From Gemini Live to Remix in the Google Photos app, I can confidently say that the AI in the Pixel 10 Pro is one of my most-used apps on the recently launched smartphone. Here's why. It's easy to access Widgets, power buttons, and app tabs make Gemini a quick find The problem with new features on smartphones is that they aren't always easy to find or, more importantly, use. Because these devices have become so ingrained in our lives, most users have a fairly rigid routine, and finding a way to integrate AI into that routine can be difficult without a simple way to access it. The Pixel 10 series doesn't seem to have that problem, making Gemini very easy to access for users of the device. For starters, you can immediately bring up Gemini by holding down the power button for a few seconds. It immediately allows you to talk to the AI model, directing it to answer questions or perform tasks on the device. It also provides you with a prompt to "Share screen with Live" or to access Gemini Live from the display at the bottom of your screen. On top of that, the Google Pixel 10 series offers a Gemini widget that allows you to access the many functionalities of the AI model from the home screen. Depending on how big you want it to be, the customizable widget features between one and six buttons, allowing you to speak to, share your screen with, provide files to, or open the Gemini app. Close It's new Innovative features are hard to come by in 2025 In the modern era, new phones don't often add much by way of innovative features. What usually happens is that the recently launched device will improve a few specs here and there, making the battery a bit better, the camera a bit sharper, and the display a bit brighter. The phone is still just a rectangle that can access the internet, and not much else. However, the Pixel 10 Pro shirks that trend with all these fancy Gemini tools, and it has made having a new phone feel, well, new again. The new rainbow-adjacent animation when you access the platform by holding the power button, the prompts throughout the interface, and the overall feel of actually getting your fingertips on something that feels new is a combination of dopamine and nostalgia that's hard to beat. It's actually kind of accurate AI errors aren't nearly as bad If you haven't heard about all the errors associated with AI models over the last few years, I have to assume that you live in some kind of anti-technology society with no access to tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Since their inception, AI models have been riddled with missteps, mistakes, and missed opportunities that have consequences that range from kind of funny to absolutely catastrophic. Stories about chatbots erasing entire databases and pretending to be human have become tragically common. The AI on the Google Pixel 10 Pro, however, seems to be a bit more polished than those early iterations. Powered by the Gemini 2.5 Flash model, the answers to specific questions are quick and helpful, while its ability to perform tasks like setting reminders and creating calendar entries is entirely accurate, at least as far as my limited experience of scheduling NFL watch parties is concerned. To be clear, though, this is not true of the entire platform, with its image recognition needing some serious improvement before it's ready for prime time. While watching the weather delay during the Eagles-Cowboys game on Thursday night, I took a picture of the pundits and asked the model to identify these widely televised individuals. As you can see from the screenshots below, it got none of them right, and then, when pressed about the accuracy of its requests, it admitted its mistake and then completely got it wrong again. Close Still, as long as you're using Gemini for basic productivity improvements, like scheduling meetings and sending emails instead of identifying people on TV, there's some notable accuracy that should put your mind at ease. Smartphone AI is likely the future It's coming whether you like it or not AI on phones is only just becoming standard, with the Google Tensor G5 chip making the Pixel 10 Pro one of the few smartphones with on-device AI capabilities. That won't be the case for long, though, with tech companies pushing to get this kind of tech integrated with virtually every platform you can imagine. As much as it may pain some to admit it, this technology seems like it's going to be the future, and getting used to it could go a long way in preparing you for what is to come. At least, that's what I've been telling myself all week.