This year’s Google I/O could be more important than ever, with much attention being focused on its generative AI offerings. Microsoft and Google have both invested heavily in generative AI, a form of artificial intelligence (AI) used to generate new and unique content, with ChatGPT capturing the interest of both investors and the public in late 2022.
Google clamping down on AI technology sparked the competition. The company issued a “code red” in December 2023 following ChatGPT’s success, and I/O is the perfect opportunity spotlight their results. In response to ChatGPT, Microsoft announced new AI-powered features for Bing in 2023, further setting up a rivalry. The Windows maker also included more AI features in different products, such as its Office 365 productivity suite and its cybersecurity tool.
Meanwhile, Google released its own AI-backed product, Bard, in February and opened it up to the public this March. The tech giant also teased AI-driven writing and organization tools for Gmail and Google Docs at the same time. Reports have even indicated that the company is developing a new AI-oriented search engine that would help people return more conversational answers to queries.
At I/O, Google might unveil plenty of AI-related announcements, especially since the company has traditionally used the event to present cutting-edge technologies. 2019’s I/O included a presentation of experimental augmented reality glasses for real time language translation. The Google Duplex AI phone calling assistant also made its debut at the conference.
Google is arguably competing against Microsoft to win over the enterprise customer. According to Gartner analyst Chirag Dekate, Microsoft is currently edging out the competition by offering AI-specific services in its products. The focus of each company on generative AI showcases just how crucial this technology is – not only for Microsoft, but for Google and other big companies like Meta, Snap, and Amazon.
Venture capitalists are also behind the trend, providing over $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023 to AI-focused deals. Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet have both expressed their commitment to AI on recent earnings calls. There’s even speculation that Samsung might replace Google’s default search engine with Bing, costing the company roughly $3 billion in annual revenue.
Google needs to use this opportunity to showcase the power of their AI offerings and prove their worth to customers. This is the perfect moment for the tech giant to claim the title as the industry leader – but only if they can make the right advances.
