While waiting for Google Assistant with Bard, the enhanced version of its voice assistant, Google is developing an assistant exclusive to its Pixel smartphones: Pixi. Using the Gemini language model, he could recognize objects.
In 2024, artificial intelligence will invade our smartphones. After a first test in 2023 with the Pixel 8, many brands should unveil their vision in the coming months. Samsung will announce an AI-powered Galaxy S24 in January, Apple could enter the race in June and all their competitors are expected to innovate throughout the year. Can AI transform smartphones? Brands hope so, in a context of declining sales.
According to The InformationDecember 14, 2023, Google could be one of the most ambitious in 2024. After having already integrated its Gemini-Nano language model into the Pixel 8 Pro for simple tasks, the web giant plans to launch a new voice assistant competing with Google Assistant on its Pixel 9. A new opportunity to demonstrate the potential of Gemini.
Pixi versus Siri?
If you haven’t been following the Gemini announcement, this is a new multimodal language model that Google plans to integrate into all of its products/services. Gemini is presented as superior to GPT-4, can listen to sound and see images and comes in a local version capable of running directly on devices. A major breakthrough for the world of AI.
With the Pixel 9, which should integrate a new version of Google’s Tensor chip that is much more powerful in terms of artificial intelligence (the NPU, for Neural Processing Unit), Google would like Gemini to be able to process a lot of information on the ‘device. The Pixi voice assistant could adapt to its owner with personalized responses based on their emails, travel habits, etc. Another example: Pixi could carry out searches from a photo, where Google Assistant still has quite big limits. The Information says that it would be possible to take a photo of an object to know where to buy it near you thanks to Pixi.
By then, another competitor may have started to catch up. Apple, if it succeeds in developing its own language model by the WWDC conference in June, could launch a much more efficient Siri at the start of the 2024 school year. Thanks to the power of the iPhone’s NPU (the Neural Engine) , it’s likely that the local processing capabilities of iPhones will far eclipse the competition. Apple will be judged on the intelligence of its model rather than performance.
What about Google Assistant with Bard?
In October 2023, Google announced the development of a new version of Google Assistant powered by generative AI. Thanks to Bard, which could take over as soon as Assistant does not have the answer to a question, Google promised a much more efficient voice assistant. Since December, Bard has been using Gemini.
Is this Wizard with Bard compatible with Pixi? Can the two coexist? This is the gray area of this announcement, especially if Assistant with Bard is deployed on Android before the Pixi announcement. In this case, will there be any real interest in Pixi, other than for local treatment? In short, generative AI has not finished talking.
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