The weirdly personal insecurity Google’s AI gave me

Despite a few misgivings about the way it was introduced to the world, I really like my Google Pixel 10 Pro.

Google’s latest flagship may have caught some flak for its underpowered processor, but its strong camera and solid battery life mean it’s everything I want in a smartphone.

But there’s far more to the Pixel 10 than just its hardware capabilities. AI was Google’s big selling point whenever it remembered to mention the phone during its launch event, and key to that is Magic Cue.

Magic Cue uses AI to make my life easier — at least, in theory. Because in practice, I don’t think I’m interesting enough for Magic Cue.

Magic Cue thrives on excitement

Being judged by AI is an interesting experience

If you’re not aware of exactly what Magic Cue is, well, you’re not likely to be alone there.

The Pixel 10 launch event wasn’t replete with knowledge about the new phones, and while Magic Cue was mentioned, it was easy to miss among all the celebrities and new music videos.

Put in the simplest way, Magic Cue is an AI personal assistant. A friend asks you about the concert you’re going to? Magic Cue finds the details and lets you know, without you having to leave your messaging app.

It does this by searching through apps like your calendar or Google Wallet for events and passes, and it does it entirely using on-device AI (check this).

It’s probably the best way AI can be implemented, as it’s useful, without being as easily forgotten as other AI features.

At least, that’s the theory. Because in practice, Magic Cue thrives on a level of excitement I don’t seem to have in my life.

It’s a curious thing to find yourself being judged by an AI feature. Who are you, so faceless and without soul, to judge I?

Much to my annoyance, Gemini is apparently capable of exactly this. I don’t remember seeing that in the patch notes.

What do I mean by this? To work properly, Magic Cue needs information and, crucially, it needs me to be doing things it can refer to.

Unfortunately for Magic Cue, my life isn’t all that interesting. What Magic Cue needs are tickets stored in Google Wallet, appointments from my Google Calendar, and events pulled from Gmail.

Sure, I have some of those. But it’s basically just a couple of professional meetings and not much else. My personal calendar has more reminders in it than appointments.

In short, I feel like Magic Cue is a bit wasted on me.

Has the feature headline become a background process?

Is Magic Cue too ephemeral?

Midway through trying to prompt Magic Cue into firing by sending certain keywords to a friend, I had a sudden revelation: Was I too boring for Magic Cue, or was Magic Cue simply not working particularly well yet?

It’s easy to judge how good the Pixel 10’s camera is. You boot it up, snap a few pictures, and hey presto, you have a good idea of what it’s like.

Less so with a feature like Magic Cue, which isn’t really in your ability to judge. When Magic Cue triggers, it is, more or less, down to Magic Trigger to judge, and while I can probably trick it, it’s not guaranteed.

Does this mean I shouldn’t judge myself based on whether an AI thinks I’m interesting? Probably. But it also raises the question of whether it’s wise to use this type of AI as a headline feature.

I said earlier that I think this is the best implementation of AI, if you want something that can’t be forgotten, like most AI features, and I stick by that.

Still, using it as a headline feature, like Google has with the Pixel 10, might not be the best course of action. Because while Magic Cue may be revolutionary and tremendously useful, if your audience can’t see that, then it might as well not exist.

I’ll wait to be surprised and amazed

I have no doubt that Magic Cue will trigger at some point during my Pixel 10 Pro ownership, but I’ve accepted it might not be during the period when I’m excitedly showing off everything my cool new phone can do.

And isn’t that just really sad? My new phone can do something that’s objectively really impressive, but I can’t gloat about it because it’s too tricky to trigger.

The Pixel 10 Pro‘s headline feature has become a background feature, and that’s such a shame. But honestly, if we want more AI that works this way, perhaps it’s time to embrace headline features being quieter.