Technology has made our lives so much easier and more convenient. We can connect with people thousands of miles away, watch a show wherever we want, and so much more. So, what is the natural next step in our technologically advanced world besides Artificial Intelligence?
Google announced many new Generative AI-powered features at this year's I/O 2023. And all of them are impressive. We at Skyriver IT offer Business IT Support in Austin and San Antonio to bring you everything you need to know about how Google responded to the recent AI boom.
Google Announces Major Improvements with the Help of AI
The search giant stands to lose the most in this AI race. They need to be careful and not make hasty, reactive decisions. That is why it has been very slow with its rollout of AI into its products. It is not because they have not been working on AI, though. Interestingly, the recent emergence of AI is due to Google.
Google’s Brain team released a paper about the Transformer neural network. The ‘T’ in ChatGPT stands for transformer. So, Google has the technology. Moreover, Sundar Pichai said that AI is the most profound technology humanity is working on. He believes it to be more impactful than discovering fire.
So, Google just had its I/O 2023 event. And this is where they showcased some of the coolest AI features. Since billions of people use Google’s services daily, the magnitude of these services is quite immense. Here are all the cool announcements at this year’s I/O.
Changes in Google Search
Search is Google’s bread and butter. Naturally, they are very careful about changing how internet search works. Well, now, with generative AI, Google is making a huge overhaul to it. Google will now be able to give you a summary of your search query.
This will save you time too. Moreover, you can also ask more detailed questions, and it will now be able to handle multi-faceted queries. Generative AI will scour the web for you and give you a final answer.
Under the hood, it stitches different bits and pieces it finds related to your specific query and then gives you a comprehensive answer. If you ask us, that is massively impressive. So, what does this mean for you?
Think of a usual search process on Google. Imagine you are visiting a new place and want to try some local cuisine, then you also want to spend the night there. Before, you needed to split your search queries.
You would have first searched for good restaurants to eat in the place you are visiting and then looked up nice hotels to stay in with a different search session. Now you can combine the two! With this cool new change, a new UI is also here. However, Google is still improving things. The UI might look very different in the future.
Changes in Gmail
Email is ubiquitous in today's fast-paced, commerce-driven world. However, as important as email is, think about it, we have yet to see any major innovations in it. That is why apps like Slack and Telegram are gaining massive popularity in business communication.
Having said that, though, here is the reality – email is not going anywhere. Google will now make emailing a little less boring. Firstly, thanks to generative AI, Gmail's smart reply feature will become even more robust. It will be able to give you better responses that also sound natural.
Also, Gmail will now be able to write emails for you. Yep, you read that right. What do we even mean when we say that Google will write emails for you? The real head-turner was the ‘Help Me Write’ feature.
In fact, this is the first generative AI integration Google announced in I/O 2023. In the demo, Google showed how Gmail used generative AI to write an entire email asking for a refund on a flight ticket, crazy (and impressive) stuff.
The email it wrote in the demo is not some generic boilerplate email either. No, it pulled in relevant information, like the flight number and incorporated it in the mail. The ability to use contextual details and information like this will make this tool super useful. Where things get even more crazy is that you can automatically expand or shorten it.
Changes in Google Workspace
Google Workplace has also been blessed with some cool AI features. These soon-to-come features are going to make Workspace products very intuitive and feature-rich. In Google Docs, you will have the aforementioned Help Me Write feature.
In addition, Google Sheets is getting more robust as well. You can use AI to insert data into specific cells and make templates automatically. In Slides, you can also generate images with a text prompt. For Workspace, Google's AI feature is called Duet AI.
Overall, thanks to generative AI, Google Workspace will become more collaborative and also very intelligent.
Changes in Google Maps
Maps saw few feature additions. However, the one it did get is pretty cool. Maps can now show you exactly what your route and journey will look like. It is very immersive, making all the sense in the world. Google calls this feature Immersive View.
You will also be able to see the traffic on the road ahead, what landmarks and spots are on the route and more. This feature makes planning out routes much more fun and useful.
Changes in Google Photos
New features in Google Photos are nothing short of magical. The first feature is Magic Editor. If you are not good at taking photos and your composition and cropping can use some work, worry not; Magic Editor can help you.
Magic Editor is still in its experimental phase. The idea is to make substantial changes to your photos with a simple button tap. If your subject is out of frame, you can drag it and put it in frame.
What about the part cropped for being out of frame? Hold on to your seats; generative AI will fill in those parts – it is just as impressive as it sounds. You can also seamlessly remove objects you do not want from the photo.
Google Photos updates are poised to make it one of the most powerful photo software, and we are all for it. We take a lot of pictures with our smartphones. In fact, the camera is one of the most important features in a phone. Having such advanced photo editing features which are very accessible makes a lot of sense.
Cool New Pixel Devices
Apart from the AI software features, Google also showed off some cool Pixel hardware as well. They announced the long-waited Pixel Fold, powered by the Google Tensor G2 chip. They also introduced the budget-friendly Pixel 7a and the Pixel Tablet.
Did ChatGPT Influence Google’s AI Feature Roll Out?
Google has always been an AI-first company. The company already had many AI-powered features before all the ones we mentioned. But when OpenAI launched a generative AI-powered chatbot called ChatGPT, things changed.
ChatGPT is not like others we have had for so long. It was much more enhanced. ChatGPT can generate answers and present new information for questions you ask it. After ChatGPT launched, it became the fasted growing technology company. It took the company a mere 5 days to reach 1 million users.
Things got even more heated when Microsoft entered the picture and invested $10 billion into OpenAI. They integrated ChatGPT’s impressive generative AI capabilities into Bing, Skype and other products. From then on, every company started to find ways to compete with OpenAI.
Amidst all this, one thing that drew a lot of attention was Google's response. Or lack thereof. Google has seemingly been caught off-guard. The search giant even called in both of its founders for advice and help.
Now, Google's I/O 2023 event cleared any doubt in people's minds. Google showed up with a slew of AI products and is ready for the inevitable AI fight that is coming ahead. With such rapid changes in AI, tons of cool development will improve all the products we use today, making them more feature-rich and intelligent. And that is a fantastic future to live in.
What Does AI Mean for Cybersecurity in 2023 and Beyond?
Companies can leverage AI to enhance cybersecurity thanks to massive developments in AI technology. Digital threats are getting more and more complex. Businesses need more than just simple antivirus and antimalware software.
They need more sophisticated defensive measures along with security experts. One of the best things AI gives companies today is scale. Thanks to AI, companies with smaller teams can do more.
AI Can Help Identify Threats Faster
AI can help you identify threats before they become one. It uses many tools like analyzing suspicious IPs, malicious files and more to identify whether something could be a threat.
Continuous Improvement and Learning
AI models keep learning and improving through analyzing and training with billions of data points. Although it does not eliminate the need for human cybersecurity experts, cybersecurity teams will be more efficient with AI.
AI Improves Your Team’s Efficiency
Artificial Intelligence helps take care of repetitive cybersecurity work. This means your team can focus on important things like improving your IT infrastructure and ensuring it is secure. This is especially valuable for smaller teams and companies that cannot afford to increase their head count.
AI Helps Fight Bots
Automated bots nowadays are very advanced. A bot is an autonomous program on the internet or another network that can interact with systems or users. In some cases, they are practically indistinguishable from real users. In addition, a lot of the internet traffic nowadays is bots.
Bad actors can use bots to generate DDoS attack sites, make fake user profiles, and more. These automated bots are very difficult to regulate and fight against manually. This is where AI can help you increase your effectiveness.
You can use AI to analyze large amounts of data and see what an unusual customer journey looks like with your business. It can help you identify threats easier. Customer journey refers to a customer's interaction with a business or website that deviates significantly from typical or expected behavior patterns. Automated bots, which can mimic real users, are a prevalent presence on the internet, contributing to a substantial portion of internet traffic.
By leveraging AI, businesses can analyze vast amounts of data to identify patterns and anomalies that signify unusual customer journeys. This AI-powered analysis can help distinguish genuine customers from automated bots and enable businesses to detect potential threats more efficiently.
AI Increases Endpoint Protection
With more and more devices being used for work, there are more endpoints now than ever. In addition, the recent boom of remote roles means many employees are connecting to devices and company services from outside office premises.
These endpoints are vulnerable to attacks. A normal measure could be to use antimalware services and antivirus software. However, they can only help you so much. These services must update their signature definitions to protect you against the latest threats.
Even then, human employees can become victims of social engineering and fall into scams and threats. This will leave your business's data vulnerable. With AI, you get improved pattern recognition. When something out of the ordinary occurs, you can take immediate action to mitigate it.
Keep Your Business Protected in an Ever-changing Landscape with Skyriver IT
All the AI benefits are great, and cybersecurity is also enhanced. You can keep your business's infrastructure safe and secure with cybersecurity and IT experts like Skyriver IT. Our passionate team provides reliable and secure IT services, cybersecurity and more.
AI is going to change the world as we know it. But what do you do when AI goes rogue? In the same way, you are using AI to improve business processes and make your IT infrastructure safer, hackers and other bad actors can use Adversarial AI to trick it into behaving in their favor.
Therefore, experts with efficient pattern detection against rogue AI and hackers will protect your business from attacks. Our systems use advanced pattern detection to flag users who show irregular behavior.
This gives you the necessary information to isolate compromised users and machines to keep your business safe. If you own a business in 2023, AI is unavoidable. Contact us to see how our team can help you achieve more and be safer.
Wrapping Up
We are in a constantly changing world when it comes to technology. And with all good that comes with such advancements and change, we must also be ready for new challenges.
That is why partnering with an expert IT support company is crucial. At Skyriver IT, we aspire to be the Trusted Technology Advisor of Choice for Small and Midsize businesses and we are your go-to choice if you are looking for a Business Partner for all your technology needs in Austin & San Antonio.
