Google Unveils Cutting-Edge AI Features for Upcoming Pixel 9 Series

6 AI features Google thinks will sell you on its latest Pixel phones (including the Fold)

New tools including Call Summary and Pixel Screenshots take the Pixel 9 series' AI capabilities to the next level. At last year's Made by Google event, Google sprinkled artificial intelligence (AI) throughout its product offerings. So naturally, at this year's event, the company upped the ante on the Pixel 9 phones, unveiling AI features that can help with calls, photo and video editing, and more. Also: Everything announced at Made by Google 2024 The features use generative AI to address everyday pain points you may have when using your phone, and as a result, they have the potential to elevate your everyday smartphone experience. Here are the six new features, ranked from most useful to least useful. You may screenshot something with the intention of remembering it later, but it probably often gets lost amongst the thousands of photos in your photo library. Going forward, you'll be able to ask for information about the screenshot and have Pixel Screenshots pull it up for you. Pixel Screenshots uses AI to process screenshots to help you find them later using simple text prompts. If you screenshot something from a webpage, Pixel Screenshots can also recall the site, ensuring you never lose track of an item you are interested in buying. Also: These three AI features sold me on the Google Pixel 9 Pro - and they're very clever The new feature is similar to Microsoft's Recall, which the company halted due to privacy and security issues. Pixel Screenshots addresses Recall's faults by only ingesting screenshots that you take (as opposed to automatically taking screenshots in the background) and allowing you to toggle it on or off. This feature is an on-device Pixel exclusive, so if you want to try it, it may be time to switch to a Pixel device. Every day, people collaborate with colleagues, make appointments, settle disputes, and more over the phone. If that sounds like you, you might benefit from having a detailed overview of your calls. That's where the new Call Summary feature comes in. The feature can be turned on within the call screen UI and, once activated, will provide you with a detailed AI-powered summary of the call's key points. Also: Google Meet will take notes for you now, thanks to AI To address the privacy concerns that come with an AI feature listening in on calls, Call Summary will announce itself on the call, so all parties involved know that the call is being ingested and run on-device. This feature will be available in conjunction with Call Screen, an AI-powered feature that Google unveiled in 2023 that lets you filter out spam and robocalls by declining the call if spam is detected. Gemini is replacing Google Assistant as the default voice assistant on Pixel phones, letting you access a smarter, more helpful assistant just by pressing and holding the power button. Gemini is aware of your Google apps, meaning it can check your calendar to see if you are free, find party details from your email, and more. Furthermore, Gemini brings an optimized conversation experience. You can talk with the Gemini voice assistant as if it were a person, interrupting it or talking with pauses, without compromising its understanding. Starting today, you can also overlay Gemini over top of your apps to get answers about what is on your screen. For example, Google states that users can ask questions about a YouTube video they are watching or generate an image from the overlay and drop it into Gmail. Also: Gemini to replace Google Assistant as Android's default - but you still have options Gemini Live, first announced at Google I/O in May 2024, is also now finally available for Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android phones. Those who buy the Pixel 9 Pro will get one year of free Gemini Advanced, including access to Gemini Live and other deeper AI integrations in the Google Workspace suite. The Gemini Live experience will be limited to its advanced voice conversational capabilities, allowing you to have long conversations that include asking advice or answering complex questions about complex topics. The multimodal capabilities demoed at Google I/O that allow you to use your camera with Live are still not available. Sometimes, you have the perfect photo opportunity, but factors like space restrictions, limited mobility, and shutter speed make it difficult to take the best-framed photo and ruin the overall capture. To address this, Google is introducing Auto Frame in Magic Editor. Also: I'm a diehard Pixel user, but I'm considering a change for two reasons The feature can help you automatically reframe your photo, suggest the best crop, and even expand your post-production. Auto Frame will work alongside the suite of new photo editing features to ensure ideal results. Ever find yourself in a situation where no one is available to take a photo of your group, so you take one for the team by getting behind the camera? Thanks to this feature, you no longer have to forfeit your spot in the picture -- theoretically. Also: I tested the Google Pixel 9 Pro's 'Add Me' feature and found it crazy clever Add Me merges a photo of the group with a photo of the photographer alone to create a new image of everyone together. You can then combine this with the Best Take feature, released last year, to select your favorite expressions for each person from a series of similar photos. This feature is toward the bottom of the list -- not because it isn't a neat AI application, but because its everyday applications remain a bit fuzzy. Like the feature above, Reimagine is meant to breathe more creativity into photos by using AI to add new elements. Also: The best AI image generators of 2024: Tested and reviewed If you take a photo and want to edit something using AI, tap the area you want to change and type what you want to see. Some examples include "add sunset" or "make the grass greener."

Google Pixel 9 series to come with these cool AI features

Pixel 9 series is loaded with new AI capabilities that aim to improve not just improve phone experience but also the camera experience. Google has unveiled its latest Pixel lineup, introducing the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. These devices boast significant upgrades, including improved displays, cameras, and performance. The series' standout feature is its robust AI integration. From the AI-powered Magic Editor for photo enhancements to Gemini Live for natural conversations, the Pixel 9 series is loaded with new AI capabilities that aim to improve not just phone experience but also the camera experience. The additional AI-driven features include Add Me for inserting yourself into photos, Super Res Zoom Video for enhanced video quality, and Pixel Studio for AI-generated art. Here is a list of all the AI features that come with the new Pixel 9 series. Gemini AI At the core of the Pixel 9's intelligence lies Gemini. This advanced AI model, designed in collaboration with Google DeepMind, powers a range of innovative features across the device. From photography enhancements to intuitive assistance, Gemini is the driving force behind the Pixel 9's capabilities. Gemini Live Gemini Live, available to all Gemini Advanced subscribers, is included with the purchase of the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold for a year. This feature allows you to engage in seamless, conversational interactions with Gemini directly through your phone or Pixel Buds. Photography with AI The Pixel 9's camera system includes AI-driven features like Magic Editor Plus, which allows users to effortlessly alter photos, change backgrounds, and remove unwanted objects. The Add Me feature, another AI-powered feature, enables users to seamlessly insert themselves into any photo with realism. Video capture has also been significantly improved with Super Res Zoom Video, which utilises AI to enhance video quality even when zoomed in. Pixel Studio, a new AI-driven app, transforms the smartphone into a creative canvas, allowing users to generate images from text prompts, experiment with different styles, and create personalised stickers. AI for everyday life The Pixel 9's AI capabilities extend far beyond photography. Gemini Live, a AI-driven feature, enables users to engage in natural, conversational interactions with the device. Gemini's screen understanding enables you to interact with content on your phone screen using Google Assistant, like finding restaurants from a travel video. The Google Assistant has also been enhanced with AI, providing users with a more intelligent and helpful virtual assistant. The AI-powered weather app now provides personalised weather forecasts and summaries. Pixel screenshots to remember more Pixel Screenshots is another useful feature designed to help you manage and organise your screenshots more effectively. When you capture images on your phone, Pixel Screenshots uses advanced AI to analyse and categorise the content of these screenshots. This makes it easy to search for and retrieve specific information later. Pixel Studio for that artist in you This is another AI-powered image generation app that lets you create images from text prompts. It's powered by combining an on-device diffusion model running on Tensor G4 and Imagen 3 text-to-image model in the cloud. Call Notes for summaries Call Notes automatically generates summaries of your phone calls, making it easy to remember important details. The feature runs fully on-device and everyone on the call will be notified if you have activated the feature.

Google Pixel 9's new AI photo-editing features can fix just about any poorly-captured image

At this year's Made by Google event, Google announced its latest hardware, including the Pixel 9 lineup. The smartphones are naturally loaded with new AI features, and -- as with Google's past launches -- some of the most standout features are related to photo editing. A great camera is only part of what it takes to capture great photos, as factors like framing, lighting, backdrop -- and the photographer! -- are equally important. That's where these new AI features can help. Also: Everything announced at Made by Google 2024 Read below for a roundup of the best AI photo editing features announced today and coming to the new Pixel phones. If you're not in a picture, perhaps it's because you were taking the photo yourself. With Google's new Add Me feature, you can use AI to edit yourself into the photo. The feature will merge a photo of the group with a photo of the photographer alone to create a new image of everyone together. Also: I tested the Google Pixel 9 Pro's 'Add Me' feature and found it crazy clever You can then combine the feature with the Best Take feature released with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro last year. With Best Take, you can select your favorite expressions for each person from a series of similar photos. Combining both features should ensure everyone has a result they love, even if it wasn't how the picture was originally taken. In the era of generative AI, there wouldn't truly be an AI feature launch if an AI image generator wasn't included in some capacity. Reimagine is a feature that lets you easily add effects and edit existing photos via simple text prompts and the power of generative AI. Also: The 6 best AI features coming to Google's new Pixel 9 lineup All you have to do is tap the area you want to change and type what you want to see. Some sample prompts could include "add sunset" or "make the grass greener." Magic Editor has new capabilities powered by AI. Now, it can reframe your photo automatically, suggest the best crop, and even expand your image to get more out of your shot. This particular feature is useful when a picture you took has potential, but the framing was less than ideal. Also: Google just announced the new Pixel Buds. Here are the 3 features I'm most excited about This adds to the already extensive suite of editing tools available in Magic Editor, such as the ability to remove and move objects, edit backgrounds, and more. The Pixel 9 Pro has an updated Video Boost feature, allowing you to upgrade your video quality to an 8K resolution. This will greatly benefit videographers and content creators who need their smartphones to produce the best possible video quality.

Google Pixel 9 Series' New AI-Camera Features: Add Me to Reimagine, Here Are The Details - MySmartPrice

Pixel phones have always been known for their exceptional camera capabilities. Still, the Pixel 9 series takes it to the next level with its new AI features baked into its cameras, as showcased at last night's 'Made by Google' event. Google's latest phones get AI features that go beyond the basic Magic Eraser. Pixel 9 phones can now replace anything in a photo with something else, extend the image to give it a better framing, zoom in on existing photos while enhancing them, and more. Let's check out the all-new AI camera features in the new Pixel 9 series. The stand-out new AI camera feature in the Google Pixel 9 series of phones is 'Add Me', which blends two photos seamlessly so that the photographer who took the photo is also included in the phone. This solves an age-old problem with photos with clever AI magic. So yes, if you're missing from a group photo, the 'Add Me' feature will ensure you can be added back to the picture. As shown during the demo, users must take this particular group photo in 'Add Me' mode, a dedicated option for the Pixel 9 camera. Pixel Studio is Google's answer to Apple's Playground app- which will roll out with iOS 18. And yes, for now, it will be exclusive to the the Pixel 9 series. Users can generate images using text prompts. The images are created by an on-device generative AI model and Google Imagen 3 model running in the cloud. Magic Editor is getting smarter. It now lets users "reimagine" their existing photo by transforming selected parts of the image. Users can select parts of the image and change them however they want. For example, trees in the image can be removed, the skies can be replaced, a volcano can be added to the image, and more. Auto Frame uses AI to improve the framing and composition of a photo by expanding the image by generating unknown parts. Super Res Zoom lets users zoom in on concerts and distant objects in video, with 20X zooming in on the subject. This is possible through the upgraded telephoto camera in Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, which work in tandem with advanced machine learning. Video Boost on Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL upscales videos to 8K resolution. Users can even save 33MP still images from the resulting video or zoom in to 2X while keeping the 4K resolution. It also works with Night Sight and Super Res Zoom Video.

Pixel 9 series: Details of AI features announced at 'Made by Google' event

Google introduced a suite of new artificial intelligence (AI) features with the Pixel 9 series launch. These new features include the Pixel Screenshot app, Pixel Studio for image generation, enhanced Magic Editor tools, and more. Google also announced that the Pixel 9 smartphones will be the first Android devices to feature Satellite SOS functionality. These AI features will be available on the Pixel 9 smartphones, alongside those released last year with the Pixel 8 series.

Made by Google 2024: A few AI features you might've missed | TechCrunch

Google's annual Made by Google hardware event was held earlier Tuesday, and because the company announced so much stuff, a lot got lost in the shuffle. We rounded up some of the more intriguing AI-related announcements that didn't get a ton of play, like the image-generating Pixel Studio and Pixel Screenshots, which helps save and organize info in screenshots. For short-term-memory-challenged folks like this writer, Call Notes could be a useful feature. Available on the Pixel 9 family of devices, Call Notes saves a summary of your conversation following a call. The details -- and a transcript -- are saved to your phone's call log. Now if that sounds like a potential privacy nightmare, you're not wrong. Google says that Call Notes runs fully on-device and notifies all people on the call when recording is in progress -- but we'll have to let the security experts weigh in. Pixel Studio, exclusive to the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, is an image-generating app powered both by an on-device generative AI model and Google's Imagen 3 model running in the cloud. Pixel Studio lets you enter prompts to generate whatever creatively moves you, and add stickers and make edits and changes after the fact. Creations from Pixel Studio -- which requires a steady internet connection to use, despite the on-device component -- can be shared with contacts via Google Messages. Google PR told my colleague Ivan Mehta that Pixel Studio can't generate human faces yet, presumably because of Gemini's unfortunate slip-ups earlier this year. But the spokesperson didn't say whether there were any other safeguards to prevent the app from generating potentially harmful images. If you're like me, you screenshot things liberally -- tickets, QR codes, boarding passes and what have you -- for easy access later. But screenshots aren't exactly search-friendly. And that makes them a real pain in the rear end when you're trying to find something specific. Fortunately for soon-to-be Pixel 9 owners, there's Pixel Screenshots, a new app that uses AI to analyze the content of screenshots, including any captured text, people and objects. Google Photos already did this -- but Pixel Screenshots works locally. Google gives this colorful example: "Let's say your friend, who loves squirrels, has a birthday coming up. You may browse Google Chrome for a gift for them, screenshotting squirrel shirts, squirrel coasters and everything else squirrel-related you think they might like. Pixel Screenshots will analyze the content of all those images and make the information searchable for you in the app. So all you'll need to do is open the app and search for 'squirrel,' and these results will pop up. Even better, it will include links to where you found everything and a summary of what you're looking at with relevant information." Pixel Screenshots will also helpfully search for things like door codes and addresses across photos.

Pixel 9's AI camera features may finally sway me from iPhone | Stuff

The AI camera features on Google's new Pixel 9 devices have gone from being playful tools to useful camera features I've been an iPhone user for years. And I'm fully within the Apple ecosystem, with pretty much every other Apple device under the sun. There's something about iOS that I just prefer, and the latest iPhones suit my style better. But the Pixel 9 series may sway me away from my firm choice, thanks to a bunch of new AI camera features. They've finally moved on from being playful tools to must-have camera features that I actually want to use. One standout camera feature on the Pixel 9s is Add Me. This mode lets you get everyone in the photo without handing your phone to a stranger. It uses AI to combine separate images of each person into one shot. The camera scans the area, takes a photo of one person, and then suggests a spot for the second person. It captures and merges the images seamlessly, while showing you where to line things up. This is the most useful AI camera feature I've seen. This has long been an issue at parties, gatherings, and other events - so seeing Google turn its attention to bigger problems is nice. Plus, from what we've seen so far, the software looks easy enough that anyone could use it. That's significant, as AI usually poses an extra hurdle for you to jump over. Google's Magic Editor now includes Reimagine on this Pixel 9 series. This feature lets you transform parts of your photos with just a text prompt. You can change the time of day, add clouds, or even a UFO. While this is definitely on the line of being one of those playful features, it could be handy if you're on holiday and can't quite get the perfect snap. I could see myself using this one. Autoframe helps you frame photos better on the Pixel 9, but after you've already taken them. The feature generates different framings of a picture, creating extra pixels with AI. Google's demos showed it off against poorly composed photos, and I was impressed with how well it can reposition subjects. It's not perfect, however, so I wouldn't see myself relying on it. This would probably be more of a last resort option to rescue a photo. Zoom Enhance improves zoomed-in photos after you've taken them, just like the old "zoom and enhance" from law enforcement flicks. AI generates extra pixels to enhance the photos, so it's not quite the same thing. But it looks pretty promising, and I'd use this on pretty much any zoomed-in snap. Video Boost processes the Pixel 9's videos twice as fast and automatically turns on in Night Sight mode. It seems like this is one of those features that works in the background, so I'd likely use this in any video I took. Panorama mode has also been revamped, incorporating HDR+ and Night Sight technologies. So on the rare occasions I snap a panorama, I know it'll be as good as it can be. And that's alongside all the existing AI camera features on the Pixels, such as Magic Editor, Best Take, and more. Combine these with the Pixel 9's newest additions, and I've got a compelling case to ditch my iPhone for a Pixel. I'm still not sure if you can count these as real pictures, since they're so edited. But Google's latest slate makes me overlook that. Maybe that's a conversation for another day. While these camera tools are impressive enough to make me consider switching from my iPhone, there's plenty more AI from Google crammed into the Pixel 9 devices. The Pixel 9 series introduces Gemini Live, which is a more natural way to communicate with the AI voice assistant. There's a new native weather app with Gemini-powered summaries, magic lists in Google Keep for auto-generated to-do lists, and a new screenshots app that allows Gemini to search and extract text. Additionally, Call Notes can listen to phone conversations (with permission), display relevant notes on screen, and transcribe chats for future reference. And that's alongside a better Gemini UI that follows you around the device, and access to the AI chatbot wherever you are on your device. While Apple's updated Siri in iOS 18 as part of Apple Intelligence will take a step in that direction, it looks like Google might hold the crown.