10 ways AI is being used on Chromebooks right now

Back in October at the Chromebook Plus Event, the ChromeOS team did something they don’t normally do: they gave us a look at some new features that would be “coming soon” to Chromebook Plus models. These new features were all centered around bringing Google’s AI capabilities directly to ChromeOS and Chromebook Plus models and will do things like help you compose messages in any text field, create AI-generated wallpapers, and even generate a personalized background for your video call. We’re hopeful that these features will show up in early 2024, but while we wait, I wanted to shed some light on all the ways that AI is already integrated into Chromebooks. So, here are 10 ways that AI is already being used on Chromebooks right now, at the end of 2023.

But before we dive in, I wanted to clarify that there are far more than 10 ways that AI is currently being used on Chromebooks and many of them aren’t exactly glamorous. You might have heard about Bard or ChatGPT and think that is what AI is, but those are just one type of AI that is called Generative AI. It is built to generate new content, images, music, and more. General AI, on the other hand, is built to understand, learn, and apply intelligence to a wide range of real-world problems. This is more of the type of AI that is currently being used on your Chromebook.

Google has been building products and services using general AI for more than two decades, and they have incorporated AI into many products that you likely use every day (if you’re a Google fan like me). These include Search, Maps, Pixel, Photos, YouTube, and many more. You’ve likely used Lens or Translate – which were built entirely using artificial intelligence technologies like character recognition and machine learning – and not realized you were interacting with AI the whole time.

Most of the ways that Chromebooks leverage AI are in the same, low-key ways. They are built to help solve specific problems and are normally behind the scenes, quiet, unseen, and helpful. And while we are excited for the next phase of generative AI coming to Chromebooks, I thought it would be helpful to showcase some of the less-glamorous – but still very integral – ways that AI is being used in ChromeOS.

10 ways AI is already powering your experience on ChromeOS

1. Camera App Document Scanning
2. Emoji Search
3. Quick Answers
4. Launcher and Search
5. Live Captions
6. Video Conferencing Panel (Chromebook Plus feature)
7. Smart Lock
8. Adaptive Brightness
9. Adaptive Charging
10. Palm Rejection (trackpad and handwriting)

So, there you have it! After reviewing a large list from Google that included several ways AI is being used on Chromebooks, these are the top 10 that I think most of you will have noticed or used at some point along the way. These AI features are working constantly behind the scenes to solve complex problems and make calculated decisions that greatly impact your user experience. If Adaptive Brightness, for example, were to not work properly and your screen was constantly going to full brightness, this would not be fun. But through AI models, the ChromeOS team has built AI into Chromebooks in ways that make your experience on Chromebooks more helpful and a better one overall.