Eyes in the tech world have turned toward Mountain View, California this week. The San Francisco Bay Area city is where Google's headquarters is located, making it a logical place to hold the company's annual developer conference. That's right, gang, Google I/O 2026 kicked off on Tuesday with the usual opening keynote, which is where the company reveals what's arguably the event's most relevant info for consumers. Google made a ton of Android announcements last week, so its mobile ecosystem wasn't really on the agenda. But what else could the onus possibly have been on if not AI? We heard the word Gemini more times than I could possibly care to count, and the company had many updates to share on that front. Search, Google's longtime bread and butter, was a big focus of the event. The company talked up a new Ask YouTube feature as well as changes to AI subscription pricing and Workspace features like Docs and Gmail.

Google's always-running, data-hungry AI agent is designed to spend your money and send your emails. Gemini Spark is Google's take on a steroided-out assistant agent that knows everything about you, announced as part of the company's updates to its Gemini chatbot app at this year's I/O developer conference . Software companies have been talking up AI agents for some time now, but I wasn't impressed until I tried Anthropic's Claude Cowork in January. I sat back as the bot organized the scattered screenshots littering my desktop into labeled folders without a single click, and felt convinced that this might be a turning point for how people interact with their computers. Many other early adopters in San Francisco experienced similar moments when they set up the mega-viral OpenClaw bot earlier this year, not just to help complete a few tasks but to run their whole online lives.

A feature called Desktop Intelligence would let the AI pull context from open apps and your desktop. Google is testing a version of its Gemini app for macOS, reports . The app would bring the AI assistant to uncharted territory, and in more direct competition with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, both of which offer standalone Mac apps. Gemini remains accessible through the web, and it sounds like the macOS app offers the same set of features, with the ability to respond to prompts, search the web and generate text, images and code. The major differentiator of the Mac app could be a feature called Desktop Intelligence, which gives Gemini a new source of information and context for its responses.

WIRED spoke with Nick Fox, Google's SVP of knowledge and information, about how AI is changing the company's advertising business. Google executives have insisted for months that the company has no immediate plans to put ads in Gemini. But in an interview with WIRED, Google's senior vice president of knowledge and information, Nick Fox, says the tech giant is "not ruling them out." "I would expect that the learnings that we get from ads in AI Mode would likely carry over to what we might want to do in the Gemini app down the road," says Fox. "It's an odd thing to say, but our research shows that users actually like ads within the context of Search. Over time, we'll figure out what makes sense in the Gemini app." Google has spent the past year racing to catch up with OpenAI in the AI chatbot market.

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld and guests discuss the reportedly woke answers from Google's AI chatbot Gemini on'Gutfeld!' Google is making a push to ensure its AI, Gemini, is tightly integrated with Android systems by granting it access to core apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and Phone. The rollout of this change started on July 7, 2025, and it may override older privacy configurations unless you know how to disable Gemini on Android. Here's what you need to know. Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide - free when you join my CYBERGUY.COM/NEWSLETTER.

Google is once again crossing the great divide between rival tech giants, at least with artificial intelligence. The company has launched a dedicated iPad app for its Gemini AI assistant. In addition to natively running on Apple hardware, Gemini's iPad app can take advantage of the tablet's split view, so that the AI assistant is open on the screen at the same time as another program for easier use. The app is available today from the App Store in all countries where Gemini is currently available. Gemini has been a huge focus for Google's recent announcements as it works to put its service in front of more and more potential users. The company recently introduced a program for children to explore the AI assistant and it opened the Deep Research capability to all Gemini users.

Later than expected, Google has begun rolling a pair of new Gemini Live features to Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 devices. The company first previewed Gemini live video and screensharing during Mobile World Congress in March. As you might have guessed from their names, the two features allow you to take advantage of Gemini's multi-modal capabilities to ask Google's chatbot questions about what you see in front of your or on your phone's screen. It's here: ask Gemini about anything you see. If you don't own a Pixel 9 or Galaxy S25, Google says you can still access the new features through the Gemini app on Android.

The upgrades being pushed out for AI chatbots aren't slowing down, and one of the latest improvements added to Google Gemini is an ability for the AI to remember previous conversations. This allows you to refer back to something you've said the previous day, the previous week, or whenever it was. But do you want that? "Gemini can now recall your past chats to provide more helpful responses," explains Google. "Whether you're asking a question about something you've already discussed, or asking Gemini to summarize a previous conversation, Gemini now uses information from relevant chats to craft a response." For now, this is exclusive to Gemini Advanced subscribers and those using Gemini in English, though it may roll out to other users in the future.

Chat GPT is not the only AI service in town. Google Gemini is a similar service where you can ask questions and get answers in plain text–no commands required. You can "converse" just as if the AI robot were a real person. If you're familiar with Chat GPT, you'll recognize it because the layout is similar. You're greeted by a stripped-down screen with a text input field at the bottom.

Google launched a barrage of new hardware this week, from the Pixel 9 smartphones to new wireless earbuds. Underpinning all the shiny gadgetry is Google's Gemini artificially intelligent assistant. The chatbot launched earlier this year and is now the default assistant on the Pixel 9 series and is already available on millions of Android phones worldwide. But there's a new way to talk to this chatbot that's now rolling out: Gemini Live. This is Google's response to OpenAI's GPT-4o, a way to talk to the assistant naturally, much like a normal voice conversation between two humans (or at least that's the goal).