ChromeOS will get closer to Android, and here’s why

Google announces that it wants to review the foundations of its ChromeOS system by inserting key elements of Android. The objective: to offer a fluid experience that is ever richer in artificial intelligence.

On the surface, not much will change. But under the hood, your Chromebook will work differently. For Google, it is a question of thoroughly reviewing the innards of ChromeOS to insert more elements from its mobile OS.

Android, to the rescue of the Chromebook for more AI

Currently it is already possible to run applications from the Play Store on a Chromebook. In recent years, the Californian firm has also increased the functionality aimed at controlling its Android smartphone from a Chromebook. It is thus possible to synchronize notifications, share files between devices or even send and receive SMS messages directly from the computer. Recently, Google even integrated Android’s Bluetooth brick into ChromeOS 122.

Prajakta Gudadhe and Alexander Kuscher, respectively director of engineering and director of product for ChromeOS, announce via the official blog that these efforts will be strengthened. “ We will adopt elements of the Android stack, such as the Linux Android kernel and Android frameworks, for the foundation of ChromeOS », They say, explaining that it is above all a question of facilitating the deployment of new artificial intelligence features, such as the recent Circle to search option.

Faced with Microsoft and Apple who are turning to operating systems powered by ChatGPT, the Mountain View giant does not intend to be left behind. By adopting the Android stack directly on ChromeOS, Google will make the Chromebook the PC built around Gemini. At the same time, Google adds that this initiative will, on the one hand, strengthen the compatibility of Chromebooks with Android smartphones and the accessories provided for the latter, and on the other hand, simplify the development process.

Better arm yourself against the competition

Since the media debut of ChatGPT artificial intelligence, Microsoft has invested heavily in Open AI, first for its Bing search engine, then for Windows. Last month, the Redmond firm presented several new features coming to Windows 11, notably with the arrival of the GPT-4o model within Copilot, its chatbot introduced in February 2023 to replace Cortana.

For its part, Apple, which was thought to be very late in the AI ​​market, revealed at the beginning of the week the extent of its work for the next versions of iOS and macOS. These will also be greatly enriched with Apple Intelligence, a set of features integrated into all applications and which is also based on GPT-4o.

Google recently introduced several new features based on Gemini artificial intelligence for its Chromebook Plus. The company affirms, however, that the generalization of AI in its machines and the implementation of this new technical architecture will not happen overnight and that it will therefore be necessary to wait.

Source : Google