Key Takeaways From Google I/O 2021 Keynote

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Google I/O 2021 keynote session led by Sundar Pichai (CEO) on May 18 revealed many product updates, innovation stories, technology roadmap, user experience innovations, AI & machine learning applicability, and many more. While this article summarizes key takeaways from Google I/O 2021 keynote, highly recommend listening to the keynote session by clicking here.

#1 Increased Focus on Collaboration & Remote Work

With COVID-19 pandemic, Google shared its increased focus on collaboration solution – Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) and progression on this space.
Launched Smart Canvas as part of Workspace with an all-in-one-place solution approach with collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.
Integrated with MLcapabilities such as Live Captions, Live Interactions, etc.
Google Workspace will soon be available to everyone. Click here to read about key features.

Google Workspace — Figure A – (Image Credit: https://workspace.google.com/)

#2 – Search & AI As Core Capability

Shared innovation and future roadmap of Search experience with contextual, personal, multi-lingual, and more intelligent Search using AI.
BERT model to add context with Google search to understand queries. BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations) is a Transformer-based machine learning technique for natural language processing pre-training developed by Google (Transformer is A Novel Neural Network Architecture for Language Understanding launched by Google almost five years back).
Announced LaMDA, a natural language platform that’s still in the research and development phase inside the company. It provides more human-like conversation powered by NLP and ML models.
AI-powered Google Translation supporting multiple products with 100+ languages translation in real-time. Text-to-speech is already launched as a product to convert text into natural-sounding speech using an API powered by Google’s AI technologies.
Other AI-driven enhancements shared are: Google Photos with enhanced image recognition, Google Meet with live captions, Google Lens can take a photo of a math problem and use ML to provide recommendations, Google Assitant ability to translate more languages as we speak are few examples.
Google Search with multitasking unified model, built on transformer architecture, is 1000X more powerful than BERT.
An example of increased focus on Tensorflow by sharing its evolution:

Figure B – Tensorflow Evolution (Source: https://events.google.com/io)

#3 – Quantum Computing is the Next Generation of Technology

Quantum computing is in the early stage and Google shared its progression towards making it accessible to everybody. Click here to know more about Quantum Computing and AI.
Shared key technology like Cirq, which is a Python software library for writing, manipulating, and optimizing quantum circuits, and Tensorflow Quantum – a library for hybrid quantum-classical machine learning.
Google unveiled their new Quantum AI Data Center. Click here for more insights into the campus.

Figure C – Google AI Campus – Inside of Google Cryostats
Image Source: https://blog.google/technology/ai/unveiling-our-new-quantum-ai-campus

#4 – Privacy and Security is of Utmost Importance

Google stressed further that Privacy and Security are one of the core pillars. Security by default and using AI-driven tech to detect vulnerabilities is foundational to most of Google products like Gmail, Google Photos, etc.
Google uses Federated Learning to inform users on privacy issues.
Auto-delete feature to remove data from Google Maps, Chrome, etc. to ensure user’s activity history and privacy concerns are taken care of.
Android 12 refocuses on privacy with Private Compute Core and Privacy Dashboard as exemplified during the keynote
Google Password Manager, in-built for Chrome, is an example of ensuring password security and protection to prevent weak or exposed passwords. Here is an example of an automated check & report by password manager:

Figure D – Google Password Check Example

#5 – User Experience Innovation & Android 12

Since its launch of Material Design in 2014, its continuously evolving. Click here to explore concepts, principles, and colors.
Material You is the new design language providing power to end-users for personalized design experience for mobile devices
New UI with Android 12 with Material You applying color extraction, human-centered coloring system with inclusion & accessibility, intuitive notifications, etc.
Google font library has been optimized with font families like Google Sans.

Finally, it is worth mentioning overall Google Product Catalog showcased during Google I/O.

Google Product Catalog

While there are many find-grained products, here is the summarized categories of Google products:

The Fun & Virtual Swag

Finally fun part of Google I/O with their interactive virtual game to interact with product teams and visitors:

Disclaimer:

All the image credits to Google website and Google I/O tech conference.
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