Bloomberg — Alphabet Inc. ( GOOGL ) Google is adding new artificial intelligence features to its Pixel devices, including iPhone-like message digests and notification prioritization.
The new features, which appeared on Tuesday, are powered by artificial intelligence on the device. Texts sent in chat apps can be summarized in the notification bar, allowing users to quickly catch up on group chats and other long topics. Last year, Apple Inc. (AAPL) introduced a similar tool as part of Apple Intelligence.
Read more: Apple plans to pay Google $1 billion a year for AI model to power Siri
The move comes at a time when major technology companies, including Alphabet, Apple, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Meta Platforms Inc. (META), are committed to making their AI offerings more advanced and useful for consumers. But unlike Apple, which releases big new features every September and a smaller set of improvements in the spring, Google is known for pushing software updates more regularly, called Pixel Drops.
Google is also rolling out a feature that prioritizes Google Messages and WhatsApp contacts, which the company calls VIP. This brings up notifications to the phone’s status bar, which runs across the top of the interface. Google will also add a “crisis icon” to its contacts widget to help users keep track of their priority contacts during a critical situation.
Read more: Google’s $32 billion Wiz deal moves ahead after antitrust review
Other Pixel updates include improvements to the AI-powered Google Remix feature, which turns still images into thumbnails, 3D animations and videos, which allows Google Messages users to now edit images directly in the chat. The company also introduced a new alert system that notifies users of suspicious messages.
Finally, it offers Pixel theme packs with wallpapers, icons, GIFs, and sounds that can be added to your entire device with a single tap. The first is related to an upcoming film.
Read more at Bloomberg.com
