Plus Chromebooks get AI writing aid and image generator

Google releases new AI functions on Chromebook Plus devices. Gemini comes as a chatbot, and "Formulate for me" helps with texting.

(Image: heise online / fis)

May 28, 2024 at 5:29 pm CEST

2 min. read

By

Mark Mantel

Google is keeping its promise and delivering new AI functions for ChromeOS devices that belong to the Chromebook Plus notebook class. These are certified models with a minimum level of performance and features.

Google is touting the "Help me write" function as a highlight. This was previously available as part of the Google AI paid subscription for various of the company's apps. Plus Chromebooks integrate the function into the Chrome browser: If you right-click in a text field there, text suggestions are displayed. For empty text fields, these can be completely new suggestions based on the page content or, for highlighted text passages, help with rewording, such as shortening or style changes.

Screenshot Google Help me write — "Formulate for me" can suggest a headline in a blog, for example. The AI is guided by the evaluable page content.

(Image: Google)

At the launch next week, however, this will initially work in English. In the third quarter of 2024, i.e. by the end of September, "Formuliere für mich" will learn German.

Generating and editing images

An AI image generator is primarily intended for desktop backgrounds and for displaying in video conferences. The Google Photos app inherits the "Magic Editor" from Pixel smartphones, which is designed to automatically recognize and edit image content. For example, you can move a person in a picture or enhance a sky.

Screenshot Google KI Bildgenerator — A built-in AI image generator is primarily there to create backgrounds. Like most image generators, it works with text prompts.

(Image: Google)

Gemini appears as a chatbot app directly on the home screen. Anyone who trusts the compilations can ask for recipes or travel tips, for example. The whole thing runs on the free Gemini 1.0 Pro model.

Further updates announced

Further functions are to follow in the coming months. These include "Help me read", which is designed to summarize texts on websites or in PDFs. There will also be face and gesture recognition control in the future, although this is still in its infancy according to the announcement.

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Anyone who buys a new Chromebook Plus will temporarily receive a one-year premium subscription for Google AI and 2 TB of cloud storage space. However, this subscription does not appear to be necessary for the above-mentioned functions on Plus Chromebooks.

Google was unable to answer at short notice whether the AI functions run locally on the processors or in the cloud. However, as most models have processors without AI accelerators, they are likely to run in the cloud and rely on an internet connection.

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