Two weeks ago, Google announced a slew of new AI-powered features at its I/O developer conference. Microsoft followed suit last week with the introduction of its Copilot+ PCs that have, you guessed it, a slew of new AI-powered features. Somewhat predictably, Google is announcing its answer to the Copilot+ PC initiative withā¦ the humble Chromebook. The Chromebook Plus line that it first announced last October, to be specific. When Google first announced Chromebook Plus, it focused on a combination of higher-performance hardware as well as some modest AI software features compared to what youād get on regular Chromebooks.
Now, however, Google is delivering on what it first announced: Chromebook Plus models are getting a host of features that Google first teased last year as well as some new ones we havenāt heard about before.
AI features
For starters, the āhelp me writeā feature Google soft-launched earlier this year is now available on all Chromebook Plus laptops. This should work across any text entry field you find on a website, whether thatās a Google product like Gmail or a site like Facebook. You can use it to get a prompt, or have it analyze what youāve already written to make it more formal, or more funny (though Google did admit the juryās out on whether AI can actually be funny). Basically itās a generative text tool that you can use across the web. Itās not surprising to see it show up in Chromebooks, as Google said you could turn it on in Chrome for Windows and Mac back in February. But Google says that it’s being implemented at the OS level on Chromebooks so that you can use it outside the browser
The next feature is another one Google announced last fall, and itās purely for fun. A built-in image generator will enable you to generate wallpaper and video call backgrounds by typing in a prompt. Itās not at all dissimilar to what youād do with other image generators, though I canāt yet say how fast it works or how well it sticks to what you ask it for. Google is including a few prompts for you to try or customize to get you started.
The last update is that the Magic Editor in Google Photos is coming to laptops exclusively as a feature for Chromebook Plus devices. First available on Googleās Pixel devices, Magic Editor was part of the Google One subscription plan for a while, but now itās more broadly available provided your phone meets the minimum specs. As for laptops, though, Chromebook Plus models are the only ones that can use Magic Editor. The reasoning seems pretty simple: Chromebooks can run Android apps, including Google Photos.
Still, if youāve wanted to mess around with Magic Editor on a bigger screen than your phone, doing so on a Chromebook seems like a decent option. As a refresher, Magic Editor basically lets you manipulate your photos in a variety of ways to change the reality of what you captured, but much faster and easier than using something like Photoshop. You can select people or objects to move them around, have the app turn a cloudy sky blue, resize or delete other objects and generally make it even harder to trust that photos you create or share are authentic.
Unsurprisingly, Google is also baking its Gemini chatbot more directly into Chromebooks by having the app pre-installed and sitting right on the launcher. More significant though is that Google is giving Chromebook Plus buyers a full year of its Google One AI Premium plan, which puts Gemini features right in Gmail, Docs and other Workplace apps. It also includes access to Gemini Advanced, which adds support for things like uploading documents for analysis and access to Gemini Pro 1.5 and its 1 million token context window (which Google said would grow to 2 million tokens soon).
Given that the Google One AI plan costs $20 a month, double the standard pricing for the 2TB storage plan, this is a pretty good perk for Chromebook Plus buyers, even if they donāt care about using Gemini. And it sounds like even if you already subscribe to another Google One plan, you’ll be able to get the year of Google One’s AI option.
Smaller tweaks
There are also a number of new software tweaks coming to all Chromebooks too. Probably most notable is Game Dashboard, a sort of control center for gaming-related activities. While most Chromebooks still canāt run a lot of games, there are more options now between cloud gaming services like GeForce Now and Android titles. Indeed, Google said that 25 percent of Chromebook owners use them for games, and theyāve seen a 40 percent year-over-year increase in the number of people gaming on a Chromebook.
Game Dashboard has a handful of features, but the most notable one is a comprehensive key-mapping system. This lets you take games that are designed for a controller or touch screen and map their buttons to various keys on your laptop. For Android games with specific swiping patterns, youāll be able to say pressing a key is the same as doing a certain swipe in a certain direction.
It also provides one-click recording ā thatāll start recording both your gameplay as well as a view of you playing via the laptopās webcam, if you want to be in the video. And you can quickly upload to various services like YouTube or Discord from the Game Dashboard, as well. This feature is exclusive to Chromebook Plus, at least for now.
Other new features include Google Tasks integration into the menu bar ā thereās already a calendar widget that shows you your upcoming appointments there, and now itāll also show you items from your Tasks list, making it a solid one-top look at whatās coming in your day. The screen recorder can now generate GIFs, something we all want to be able to do at any time. And you can set up an Android phone via your Chromebook now, as well. If you scan a QR code on your Chromebook with the phone youāre setting up, your Google account and Wi-Fi info will all sync over.
Future updates
It doesnāt stop there, though. Google also announced a bunch of forthcoming software features to look forward to, just like they did last fall. I appreciate the little sneak peak at whatās coming, and since Google is indeed delivering on what they showed in October I feel confident weāll see most of these sooner or later.
Chief among them is Googleās Gemini-powered āhelp me readā feature. As the name suggests, itāll offer summaries of web pages, documents or PDFs, and youāll be able to ask follow-up questions. Of course, your results may vary on how useful this all is. Googleās also working on an AI-powered overview screen thatāll pop up when you open your laptop ā rather than throw you back into the dozens of tabs you have, itāll try and organize and show you the apps and pages you have open so you can decide where you want to go from there. Itāll also take into account things youāre doing on Chrome on other devices, so if youāve been reading on your phone you can jump back in on your laptop.
In the same vein, thereās a new focus tool that combines Google Tasks and YouTube Music with a count-down timer. You can basically pick an urgent task, a playlist and a timer and youāll go into do not disturb mode while you crank away on what youāre supposed to be doing. Not exactly a game-changer, but itās kind of clever.
Perhaps most interesting is a new accessibility feature based on the hands-free āProject Gamefaceā tool it showed off at I/O in 2023 and 2024. Google says itās building Gameface right into ChromeOS, which will use face and gesture tracking to help people do things on their computer without a keyboard or mouse. Itās āearlyā in the projectās timeline, so I donāt think weāll see this six months from now, but itās definitely an important feature that could make Chromebooks a lot more useful for more people.
Of course, Google and its hardware partners are launching a slew of new Chromebook Plus devices to go along with all of this ā you can read about the new hardware here. As for the software, everything should start rolling out today, aside from all of the stuff Google is promising for a later date.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-bringing-a-slew-of-ai-powered-software-features-to-chromebook-plus-laptops-130049652.html?src=rss