Google is planning to integrate an AI-powered writing assistant, “Help me write,” into its Chrome browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. This feature, which is already prevalent in other Google services including Messages, Gmail, Docs, and Keep, is designed to facilitate the drafting of text based on simple user prompts. The feature will help lessen the time and effort users spend composing text manually.
Feature Integration and Functionality
According to Google's recent updates, the feature will emerge within Chrome's autofill suggestions as users type online, as well as be accessible through the right-click context menu. Embarking on a more context-aware approach, the AI is configured to analyze the contents of the current webpage to gain a better understanding of the required text.
Users have the convenience of inputting brief summarizations, initial drafts, or specific commands, such as prompting the AI to write a certain type of review for a restaurant. This data, along with users' interactions with the pages, will be sent to Google, potentially undergoing review by human annotators to upgrade and refine Google's offerings. Users may adjust these settings at their discretion.
Customization and Availability
While Google offers comprehensive style customization in other applications, Chrome's version currently presents users with more limited options. Users can guide the AI to either “Shorten” or “Elaborate” the produced text and to adjust the tone between “Casual” and “Formal.” As of now, the feature rests behind hidden flags on the browser's experimental features page, chrome://flags, and an additional internal “build flag” is needed, leaving the exact date of availability indeterminate. Nonetheless, speculations infer that the live deployment of this AI function will not be prior to the release of Chrome's version 122 in February 2024.
Concerning Chromebooks, the AI writing tool will initially be exclusive to the newer Chromebook Plus models, as part of the Chromebook Plus initiative announced earlier by Google. However, it is anticipated that the conventional Chromebook models will eventually receive access to this browser-based AI tool, once the development team ensures an exclusive offering for Chromebook Plus devices.
Other Google AI News
Google has made several AI announcements this week. Leading the reveals was the launch of the Gemini AI model. The company developed three distinct versions of the Gemini AI model, each targeting different levels of computational complexity and application environments. Gemini is also integrating directly into the Google Bard chatbot, boosting its capabilities. Google says Gemini is also at the heart of its new AlphaCode 2 coding AI.
