The Google Pixel 9 series has been confirmed to be unveiled by the company on August 13. Ahead of the launch, a new report has revealed three new artificial intelligence (AI) features that could be coming to the smartphone. These features will reportedly be shipping under the ‘Google AI’ branding, a first for the smartphone series. A new Screenshots feature is part of the trio, and based on the reported description, it appears to be a slightly different take on Microsoft’s recently announced AI Recall feature for its Copilot+ PCs.
Google Pixel 9 reportedly getting a recall-like AI screenshot feature
Microsoft introduced an AI-powered feature called Recall in May. It periodically takes and stores screenshots of the PC to create a chronological log of the user’s activity on the device. Later, when the user asks the AI what they were doing on a particular day at a particular time, the on-device AI can process and share the information from the screenshot database.
However, the feature has been criticized for its privacy-intrusive nature and lack of security and encryption. Microsoft has notably promised to add several security features and has delayed the launch of Recall.
Google AI Screenshots Feature
Photo Credit: Android Authority
But Google’s take on the feature is slightly different, according to a report by Android Authority. The smartphone itself would not take screenshots, but would store the manually captured screenshots along with some additional metadata. This includes information such as the name of the app, web links and more. Then, an AI on the device, which could be the Gemini Nano AI model, would process these images and answer user questions about these images, the report said, citing an anonymous source.
While the usage scenario and exact implementation of the feature are currently unknown, the Screenshots feature could provide users with a way to organize their saved screenshots and quickly extract information from them.
Other Google AI features reportedly set to be unveiled next month
According to the report, two other Google AI features will be coming alongside AI Screenshots. The first is Add Me. A description of the feature in an image shared by the publication reads: “Make sure everyone is in a group photo.” Based on this information, the feature appears to be an add-on to last year’s Best Take feature that enhances the facial expressions of people in a group photo. Add Me can help users in situations where a particular group photo is missing a few members. Users can potentially take other group photos and merge them with the target photo to add the missing members.
Google AI Features
Photo Credit: Android Authority
Another feature is called Studio, with a description that reads: “You think it. Pixel creates it.” While the description makes it seem like a generic AI image generator, the report claims it can do more than that, potentially allowing users to edit images and create stickers as well. If true, the feature would be similar to Apple’s AI-powered Image Playground feature announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 in June.
Additionally, the shared screenshot highlights that Circle to Search and the built-in Gemini AI assistant will also be included as part of Google AI when the Pixel 9 series arrives.
