GoKawiilGoogle I/O 2026 starts on May 19, and while we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect, there's plenty of room for surprises. The tech giant has been all-in on AI for the past few years, and that probably won't change, but there could be a few hardware announcements on tap this year.
From Android XR glasses to hearing more about Aluminum OS, there's a lot to look forward to. Below, we'll fill you in on what we expect Google to talk about during the I/O keynote.
More AI features
We expect Google to announce several new artificial intelligence features that integrate further into its products. Now that agentic AI is all the rage, we'll most likely see Google lean even further in this direction. This type of AI can perform tasks on your behalf, like controlling your computer, with minimal oversight. We'll have to wait and see what and how many AI features Google announces this time.
Let's also not exclude updates to existing or new products that Google could announce. Veo, Lyria, Beam and countless others could get some spotlight at this year's conference.
Veo and Lyria are Google's AI-generated video and music tools, respectively, and have continued to improve since they were originally announced. Beam is an ambitious and futuristic way of video conferencing that uses several cameras to make you appear as though you're speaking directly to the person in front of you as a 3D model.
Gemini 4.0
The next generation Gemini is likely going to be announced at Google I/O 2026 Thomas Fuller/Getty Images
Among all the AI announcements, we're expecting Google to spend a significant amount of time talking about its flagship AI model for Gemini. Whether it gets a solid 4.0 status or something like a 3.8, we know the new version of Gemini will likely be one of the biggest announcements of Google I/O 2026.
Exactly what Google has been working on with Gemini is anyone's guess. It's easy enough to assume that the latest model will be smarter and faster than previous models, but Gemini itself is in nearly every Google product these days, so how the latest and greatest AI from Google trickles down will be interesting to see.
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