Written by Julian Chokkattu
Ai Ai Ai. Not referring to the Vanessa da Mata song, but the theme for tech in 2024. Microsoft made public last week about their new Surface laptops integrated with artificial intelligence capabilities, followed by other PC manufacturers like Samsung, Asus, and Acer releasing new Windows machines that can leverage the AI upgrade. Google also showcased its advanced AI capabilities at their developer conference in early May, promising its arrival to Android phones soon. We can anticipate the term “AI” being used frequently in relation to iOS and iPadOS at the forthcoming Apple’s developer conference.
Unsurprisingly, this wave of AI has also reached Chromebooks. Google is extending Gemini, its AI chatbot, to both new and established Chromebook Plus laptops.
In the previous year, Google launched a new standard known as Chromebook Plus. The label signifies ChromeOS laptops that meet the set hardware specifications needed to operate the AI features. Though they usually cost upwards of $350, they offer many features. New owners of Chromebook Plus can now access a free 12 months subscription of the Google One AI Premium plan, which includes the more sophisticated Gemini Advanced. Several Chromebook producers promise to release new machines in the spring and later this year, many adjusted to accommodate the blossoming AI technology.
Here are a few of the top new features coming to ChromeOS.
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Many of these features are exclusive to Chromebook Plus laptops, which have specific RAM and processor requirements to ensure a specific level of performance. I’m currently typing this story on the new HP Chromebook Plus x360, powered by an Intel Core i3 chipset, and with more than 20 tabs open, everything is running smoothly.
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The first notable feature is Help Me Write, which works in any text box. Select text in any text box and right-click—you’ll see a box next to the standard right-click context menu. You can ask Google’s AI to rewrite the selected text, rephrase it in a specific way, or change the tone. I tried to use it on a few sentences in this story but did not like any of the suggestions it gave me, so your mileage may vary. Or maybe I’m a better writer than Google’s AI. Who knows?
Google’s bringing the same generative AI wallpaper system you’ll find in Android to ChromeOS. You can access this feature in ChromeOS’s wallpaper settings and generate images based on specific parameters. Weirdly, you can create these when you’re in a video-calling app too. You’ll see a menu option next to the system tray whenever the microphone and video camera are being accessed. Tap on it and click “Create with AI” and you can generate an image for your video call’s background. I’m not sure why I’d want a background of a “surreal bicycle made of flowers in pink and purple,” but there you go. AI!
Next up, the Magic Editor in Google Photos. The same feature that debuted in Google’s Pixel 8 smartphones is now available on Chromebook Plus laptops. In the Google Photos app, you can press edit on a photo and you’ll see the option for Magic Editor. You’ll need to download more editing tools to get started. This feature lets you erase unwanted objects in your photos, move a subject to another area of the frame, and fill in the backgrounds of photos. I successfully erased a paint can in the background of a photo of my dog and it worked pretty quickly.
Another feature is Gemini. It’s available as a stand-alone app, and you can ask it to do pretty much anything. Write a cover letter, break down complex topics, ask for travel tips for a specific country. Just, you know, double-check the results and make sure there aren’t any hallucinations. If you want to tap into Google’s Gemini Advanced model, the company says it is offering 12 months free for new Chromebook Plus owners through the end of the year, so you have some time to redeem that offer. This is technically an upgrade from Google One, and it nets you Gemini for Workspace, 2 terabytes of storage, and a few other perks.
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Don’t own a Chromebook Plus? Don’t worry, there are still a few new features coming to all Chromebooks. For starters, Google says you can now set up a Chromebook with your Android phone just by scanning a QR code—this will share the Wi-Fi credentials stored on your phone with the PC so you don’t have to dig up the password if you don’t remember it.
Google Tasks, the company’s task-management app, is now directly integrated into ChromeOS’s system tray. Tap on the date, and above the calendar will be a Google Tasks widget that lets you see current tasks, allowing you to clear them or add new ones. Other new features include a Game Dashboard, which lets you map controls and record gameplay with voice-over, and the built-in screen recorder tool now lets you save recordings as GIFs.
By Aarian Marshall
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There are a few upcoming capabilities I tested out at an exclusive Chromebook conference last week, namely Hands-Free Control. This is part of Project Gameface, an open source accessibility mechanism for Android that Google highlighted at its developer forum. It allows gamers to use their face as a mouse, directing the cursor with facial gestures and movements of the head. I observed as an individual used ChromeOS with their head and face, making minor head rotations to move the mouse to navigate away from browser tabs, steer the cursor to text fields, and then utilizing voice command to type. Google indicates that this accessibility feature will be making its way to Chromebooks in the near future.
Besides, there’s the upcoming Help Me Read function that takes advantage from Gemini, where the chatbot can be asked to summarize websites or PDFs with a right click. Additionally, you can pose further questions via the classic chat interface. For instance, during a presentation, the user prompted Gemini to condense a Wikipedia page before asking specific questions about the subject to gain more insight, bypassing the need to scroll or search for the information themselves.
Moreover, there is a new Overview window that displays every time you initiate your Chromebook, presenting what you had open across various browser windows, tabs, and applications. There are also suggestions to share content to your other devices, allowing you to proceed reading that news article after shifting from your phone to your laptop.
Here’s the list of new Chromebooks that are either available now or are coming soon. Not all of them are Chromebook Plus models, which are the only ones that can take advantage of the new AI features.
