Recent additions to the ChromeOS code suggest that Google is working on an artificial intelligence to write for you. Integrating it at the system level would allow it to work in almost any application.
It’s not the first time that Google wants to help us write using the power of artificial intelligence. Gmail integrates the function Help me to write for example, while Google Messages suggests texts to you with Magic Compose. Not to mention Bard, its in-house chatbot as a full-fledged web service and mobile app. However, part of the Google ecosystem was missing: Chrome OSthe operating system that powers Chromebook computers.
By examining its publicly released code, our colleagues at 9to5Google have spotted what could be a AI writing assistance available in almost all applications. The project has several code names: Orca, Mako or Manta. Obviously, it would take the form of a new line in the context menu that opens after a right click on ChromeOS, here after highlighting some text. Once the tool is launched, a “bubble” would appear to offer you options like “request a rewrite” or “requests for predefined texts”.
An AI that writes for you in all applications could arrive on ChromeOS
Even though there is no explicit mention of using artificial intelligence, it is very likely that the project will build on it. That would mean that the text to be modified would go to Google’s servers before returning transformed by the AI. Explicit consent will therefore be required., in the form of a check box for example. The big difference with other Google writing aids is that this one would be directly integrated into the ChromeOS system level. In other words, it would work almost anywhere : on Google Messages, in Discord, on social networks…
Since the Orca project seems to be confined to Chromebook computers, it will not be able to be deployed until the next ChromeOS update, scheduled for mid-October. It is nevertheless very possible that this is too early, as the tool still seems to be in the development phase. We do not know if all models will be entitled to it or if Google plans to reserve it for its high-end Chromebooks.