GoKawiilGoogle’s annual I/O developer conference, which kicked off on Tuesday in Mountain View, California, was full of announcements of new AI features, hardware and tools. Our reporters were on the ground covering every update on CNET’s live blog.
Here's a recap of some of the highlights.
Gemini Spark task automation
AI was front and center at Google I/O this year, and the headline announcement was Google’s new “personal AI agent," called Gemini Spark. Similar to Anthropic’s Claude Cowork or Microsoft 365 Copilot, Gemini Spark will run 24/7 in the background to offload tasks.
It can comb through your various Google software accounts like Gmail, Docs and chats to perform tasks like compiling info from your documents into weekly emails to your team or sending out a friendly reminder to anyone who hasn’t RSVP'd to your party.
Spark will roll out to test users immediately, with a beta version expected for Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US in the next week. For everyone else, Google says that it will be available in Chrome later this summer.
Read more: Google's Spark Uses Gemini AI to Help Plan Your Life
Ask YouTube AI-powered Search
Google’s AI search features are coming to YouTube. Called Ask YouTube, the feature allows you to make ultraspecific queries on the platform, like “how to change the oil on a 2019 Subaru Outback.” If the initial results don’t show you what you were looking for, you can ask follow-up questions that further refine your results. Ask YouTube will even jump straight to the relevant part of the video.
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