Google takes sly dig at Apple Intelligence as it pushes Gemini AI at Pixel event

(Image credit: Google)

Google announced its new Pixel line of smartphones yesterday on stage alongside new improvements to Gemini AI. During the presentation, the company made a sly dig at Apple and its upcoming Apple Intelligence features — a reminder that the AI race is well and truly underway.

The company said, "Gemini is deeply integrated with Google apps and Android and can handle complex queries without hand-off to third-party AI providers you may not know or trust."

A sly jab at Apple's use of OpenAI's ChatGPT for more complex tasks like generating text, no? In iOS 18.1, which is set to be released later this year after the expected launch of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro in September, Apple Intelligence will allow users to rewrite, proofread, summarize, and even generate emojis. For more complex tasks, you'll be able to ask Siri to use ChatGPT, a Large Language Model (LLM) that is often met with privacy concerns.

Apple will ask the user for permission every time before accessing ChatGPT, but considering Apple's huge focus on privacy it does open concerns as to how other companies use people's data.

What's in Pixel's Gemini AI?

Gemini is already well-established, but Google's AI will be getting a few major upgrades in the Pixel 9. Gemini Live is a "mobile conversational experience that lets you have free-flowing conversations with Gemini." Imagine the film 'Her', although please don't try to replicate some of the intimate scenes.

There are also new AI photo features such as 'Add Me' in the camera app that allows you to take a photo and then superimpose the image with another photo in real time.

If you'd like to know everything Google announced at the company's Pixel 9 event yesterday, we've got you covered.

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John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.