The annual Google I/O is already underway, where the unveil their new products or major leaps in their existing portfolio. Much of it has been focused on places like the US/Canada for their launch, but now it’s time for the MENA region to get some love.
As AI has been the central topic, it’s already woven into their existing suite. Good thing I follow the Google Arabia blog, and I’m here to help highlight the key takeaways from the announcements.
Search gets adrenaline shot in Arabic
Much of the improvements ave centered around one of Google’s core product – Search. Seeing how people’s searching habits have evolving especially with social media fueling discovery habits, they launched AI Overviews to help provide a summarized and distilled view. Gemini has been the backbone, which already saw wider rollout across the MENA region many months ago with support for the Arabic language.
That’s about to match up well with the availability of AI Overviews across the region, and now supports additional languages including Arabic. Sounds exciting? It should, especially if you don’t have the time at hand to collate your own summarised understanding of the search results.
Gemini-fueled improvements
Google’s AI efforts are backed by Gemini, which itself is also seeing more improvements for the MENA region.
Gemini Live Camera, which allows users to converse with Gemini in a conversational form to ask questions on what it sees, is rolling out to both Android and iOS devices. Use your phone’s camera to ask questions on what your camera sees, whether it’s in English or Arabic.
If you’re a student and you’re preparing for your exams, AI-powered Quizzes are no available to everyone across the MENA region. Think of it as your personalized, dynamic coach on desktop or mobile.
Imagen Images
Made by the Google DeepMind team, they’ve also rolled out the new version of their image generation model a.ka Imagen 4.
Building on their previous models, V4 looks to better render finer details related like: fabrics, water droplets, and even animal fur. It goes even further with handling photo realism and abstract art styles.
Plus, it’s even faster than Imagen 3 and plans are afoot to seeing a variant of Imagen 4 that is quicker.
Generate Videos with Veo 2
On the sidelines, Veo 2 is now available in the MENA region and supports Arabic. However, it’s restricted to Gemini Advanced users (which requires a subscription).
The new version of Google’s state-of-the-art video model is a leap from the initial version, capable of producing detailed videos with cinematic realism. Take the below kunafa video as an example.
It’s already integrated in the mobile and web experience of Gemini. It translates text-based prompts into dynamic eight second video clips at 720p (sorry, not in FullHD) as a MP4 file in landscape dimensions. They’re all marked with SynthID to indicate they are AI-generated.
What’s next?
You can already star using these features in Gemini. Just make sure you have the latest version of the app. ICYMI, the Gemini app is also available on the iPad.
Some of the more demanding/interesting products not yet or planned to be immediately available in the MENA region include Veo 3 and AI Mode.
We’ll have to wait and see on their release, but they’re already seeing a wider rollout here in the USA.
Image Credits: Google Arabia blog
