It’s hard to believe, but this week marked yet another Google I/O in the books. This year’s presentation felt like a throwback to the earliest days of Google’s annual conference, focusing on software tools and in-depth developer tools rather than highlighting new gadgets or advancements in Pixel hardware. Yet, I/O 2024 felt deeply rooted in the tech space’s current meta, with two hours of wall-to-wall AI references. And while it might be too early to really know whether or not this keynote was a success, it’s still worth talking about your initial feelings.
I think this year’s I/O is bound to go down as one of the most divisive in recent years. More than ever, it cemented Google as an AI company, with Gemini infecting nearly every aspect of the company. With AI Overview officially available on all accounts, search results will never be the same. Project Astra left our own Taylor Kerns impressed in its earliest demo, and it seems destined to eat the lunches of dedicated hardware companies Humane and Rabbit. And on Android — AP’s bread and butter, of course — Gemini Nano continues to grow more powerful, while Assistant’s days feel, for the first time, truly numbered.
Personally, I’d say my feelings are mixed. It’s not that some of Gemini’s new toolsets don’t seem interesting, but I’m still unsure how I’ll factor most of them into my everyday life. The actual conference itself felt disjointed, lacking the tight sectioned cohesion of other I/O presentations, and without a hardware tease to anchor these features to, it just wasn’t up to the same level of excitement as in previous years.
Really though, our collective true opinions on this show might not rise to the surface until the majority of the applications shown on stage in Mountain View actually launch in earnest. Some of these seem destined to arrive with the Pixel 9 later this year, while others could easily slip back far enough to reappear at next year’s I/O. Regardless, there’s no better time than this weekend to take a quick straw poll of how everyone feels about this week’s presentation, and I can’t think of a better way to do it than with a quick, easy grading system.
Whether you’d give Google I/O 2024 an A or an F, we’ve got a poll option for you. Whether you’re excited about Gemini or inherently distrustful, disappointed in the lack of hardware or excited for the singular focus Google is offering, let us know in the poll below — and, if you want, expand on your feelings in the comment section.
