{"id":604371,"date":"2026-05-26T07:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/604371\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T07:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:34:23","slug":"google-i-o-showed-practical-gemini-ai-but-i-have-mixed-feelings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/604371\/","title":{"rendered":"Google I\/O showed practical Gemini AI, but I have mixed feelings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

AI continues to give me mixed feelings about the future, and that\u2019s top of mind following another Gemini-heavy Google I\/O this past week. On the one hand, Google continues to show some of the most practical and useful ideas for AI, but until I can trust it, I struggle to actually get excited about it.<\/p>\n

There are a million ideas in the AI landscape, but I think it\u2019s safe to say that a lot of those aren\u2019t worth your time, attention, or all of the resources that went into building it. So often when I hear about new AI products or pushes, my takeaway is basically \u201cwhy would I ever use this?\u201d There are just so many ideas out there that exist as AI for the sake of AI, or for trying to come up with shortcuts that take humanity out of the equation. Those are the products I struggle with \u2013 AI absolutely has a place in modern life, and these models are powerful, but I firmly believe it should all be built with the actual human being using it in mind.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my overarching thought into why Google\u2019s AI efforts have been the ones largely catching my eye.<\/p>\n

Where most of the AI industry has been doubling down on profitable applications such as coding, Google is still trying to figure out where AI can be helpful to the everyday person in places beyond a simple, generic chatbot like ChatGPT. Some great examples of that can be found in Google Home and Fitbit (now Google Health) \u2013 it\u2019s why I\u2019m actually keen to continue seeing more from Google\u2019s AI efforts, as opposed to the many others that I struggle to care about at all.<\/p>\n

\tAdvertisement – scroll for more content<\/p>\n

Google I\/O 2026 was a mix of both paths. On the one hand, there were some genuinely useful, practical ideas. \u201cUniversal Cart\u201d<\/a> as a deal tracker and proactive shopping cart that works across the web has massive potential. Using \u201cGenerative UI\u201d<\/a> in Search to create interactive, use-case-specific miniature apps is a great tool for understanding a topic rather than just looking at a wall of text. But, on the other hand, there were some ideas I wasn\u2019t as convinced by. Gemini Omni\u2019s lifelike video<\/a> is undeniably impressive, but the social impact of being able to create such a convincing video is huge \u2013 and the internet is already full of enough AI slop. <\/p>\n

\u201cDocs Live\u201d <\/a>also makes me uneasy. The idea of rambling to an AI to help you create outlines is innocent enough, but Google\u2019s on-stage example of using the AI to create a last-minute speech that you forgot to do yourself just feels\u2026 bad is the word I\u2019ll go with, but the actual feeling it brings to mind is \u201cI don\u2019t want to live on this planet anymore.\u201d I personally hate these AI demos that basically just show people how to be lazy \u2013 it\u2019s human nature to take the path of least resistance, and I\u00a0need\u00a0Google and all of these other AI companies to stop acting like everyone using these tools aren\u2019t taking away humanity\u2019s ability to think for themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Anyway, the main focus of I\/O very much felt as though it was on \u201cagents,\u201d the tools that let you pass the controls (mostly) to AI to get tasks done on your behalf. Again, mixed feelings here. On the one hand, I can get on board the idea of using these tools to speed up my existing workflows. Gemini Spark had a\u00a0few interesting examples<\/a>, like identifying rogue subscription fees on your credit card or pulling and summarizing deadlines out of your inbox for easier viewing.<\/p>\n

But as much as I was thinking about how I might be able to apply this in my life, I kept coming back to the same thought I\u2019ve had about this era of generative AI since the beginning \u2013 I simply do not trust it.<\/p>\n

Time and time again, Gemini and every other AI tool I\u2019ve tried to integrate into my life has, at some point, simply failed to do its task correctly, or confidently lied to me about what it\u2019s doing. This has gotten better over time, slightly, but it\u2019s still an inherent problem \u2013 just recently, our own Will Sattelberg started testing out the Google Health Coach and, on the first day, it hallucinated<\/a> a several-mile run he simply didn\u2019t take. My own experience with Coach hasn\u2019t turned up the same results, but it\u2019s not at all uncommon for me to run into similar hallucinations or \u201cconfident lies\u201d when interacting with the various forms of Gemini. Yet, we\u2019re constantly told that this is somehow normal.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where my concern with agents comes in. I have no doubt that the tools Google is building out here are going to be able to do what they promise, I\u2019m just worried about when it will inevitably fail. Going back to those two examples Google provided \u2013 what if my agent completely misses one of those hidden fees at a time where my budget is tight? What if it hallucinates a random deadline for a project I\u2019m working on? The agent isn\u2019t going to tell me when it got something wrong, it\u2019s just going to say it with 100% confidence, as it always does. With that in mind, I just have to go in and check for myself and, at that point, am I even saving time?<\/p>\n

The first thing we\u2019re getting out of Gemini Spark is the \u201cDaily Brief,\u201d<\/a> a feature that cleverly dives into your data from other Google products to pull out some things you might need to address. I\u2019ve already started seeing this and, genuinely, it\u2019s pretty cool. It was able to pull out relevant information from my browsing and Gmail, such as an appointment for a phone call (that I never added to my calendar) that even leveraged a previous conversation with Gemini Live on the subject. Neat! Useful! But it also pulled my recent research into a used EV for seemingly no reason. This felt like going back to \u201cAI for the sake of AI,\u201d because the summary it provided was utterly useless<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On the whole, I think Google I\/O 2026 was still one of the best showcases of practical AI we\u2019ve seen, especially recently, but it still left me split. Google continues to iterate and try new ideas as it builds out these practical applications \u2013 which is great, and what we should be demanding from every AI company. But, at the same time, there are so many places here where what I\u2019m seeing is something I either don\u2019t feel I can trust, or basically AI slop \u2013 and that\u2019s not even to touch on continued changes to Search that seem to continue destroying the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where I\u2019m at \u2013 mixed between optimism for the future of Google\u2019s AI efforts, and equally worried about the impact it will have.<\/p>\n

What about you? What did you think of Google I\/O 2026?<\/p>\n

This Week\u2019s Top Stories<\/p>\n

More from Google I\/O 2026<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a ton more from Google I\/O 2026, so here\u2019s a quick list of the biggest highlights:<\/p>\n

Everything Google announced at I\/O 2026: Gemini, Search, Android XR, & more<\/a><\/p>\n

Gemini app rolling out \u2018Neural Expressive\u2019 redesign, 3.5 Flash, 24\/7 Spark agent, & Daily Brief<\/a><\/p>\n

These are the first Android XR audio glasses, coming this fall with iPhone support<\/a><\/p>\n

Gemini Omni, the \u2018create anything\u2019 model, starts today with lifelike video<\/a><\/p>\n

Google announces Wear OS 7 with Live Updates, widgets, more<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the biggest reveals? YouTube Premium Lite is now included in Google AI Pro, which just makes that storage plan even better.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Google Health rollout<\/p>\n

Outside of I\/O, the Fitbit app has officially been replaced by Google Health, with the update rolling out now on Android alongside a useful new widget.<\/p>\n

More Top Stories<\/p>\n

Podcast<\/p>\n

Abner and Damien took Pixelated on the road this week, with a special chat with Google\u2019s Seang Chau and Dieter Bohn on this week\u2019s episode!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

From the rest of 9to5 <\/p>\n

9to5Mac: MacBook Ultra could be very good news for MacBook Pro users<\/a><\/p>\n

9to5Toys: New Nintendo Switch 2 bundle with included game might be the best deal we see all year<\/a><\/p>\n

Electrek: Jeep and Ram vehicles are about to get more affordable with prices under $40,000<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow Ben:\u00a0Twitter\/X<\/a>,\u00a0Threads<\/a>, Bluesky<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\"Add
\n\t\t\t\"Add
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t