Google often uses its annual developer conference, I/O, to showcase artificial intelligence with a wow factor. In 2016, it introduced the Google Home smart speaker with Google Assistant. In 2018, Duplex debuted to answer calls and schedule appointments for businesses. In keeping with that tradition, last month CEO Sundar Pichai introduced LaMDA, AI "designed to have a conversation on any topic." In an onstage demo, Pichai demonstrated what it's like to converse with a paper airplane and the celestial body Pluto.

The future of search is a conversation -- at least, according to Google. It's a pitch the company has been making for years, and it was the centerpiece of last week's I/O developer conference. There, the company demoed two "groundbreaking" AI systems -- LaMDA and MUM -- that it hopes, one day, to integrate into all its products. To show off its potential, Google had LaMDA speak as the dwarf planet Pluto, answering questions about the celestial body's environment and its flyby from the New Horizons probe. As this tech is adopted, users will be able to "talk to Google": using natural language to retrieve information from the web or their personal archives of messages, calendar appointments, photos, and more.