Surprise: Gemini AI Coming to Pixel 8

Google’s reversed course and the company plans to bring Gemini AI to the Pixel 8.

In December, Google brought Gemini, its large language model (LLM) to the Pixel 8 Pro via its December Pixel Feature Drop. At the time, it looked like the feature would be limited to the Pixel 8 Pro because of hardware limitations.

Well, that’s changed. In an announcement today, Google says it will “expand the roll out of Gemini Nano to Pixel 8 users as a developer option with the next Pixel Feature Drop.”

The company says it power two expanded features: Summarize in Recorder and Magic Compose in Messages.

Summarize gives users a summary of recorded conversations, interviews, presentations, and more. It works without a network connection.

Magic Compose uses AI to craft stylized, suggested responses with the context of a user’s messages. It can be used to get suggestions to start or reply to a conversation or to rewrite a drafted message in different styles.

Google’s Pixel Feature Drops are quarterly releases. The company released an update in March which means Pixel 8 users will have to wait a bit for access to these features.

They will also be released as a developer preview so that Google can test and make sure they work properly with the Pixel 8’s lesser specs.

In addition, Google’s confirmed plans to bring its Circle to Search AI feature to the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7a, Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet.

The roll out of Circle to Search to the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, and Pixel 7a users starts today. In a few weeks, it will expand to the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet.