Search used to be simple

Thirty years from now, the internet of today will seem ancient. With all of our grandkids around, we’ll explain how, “back in our day, you had to manually scroll through all of the Google search results, like a caveman! And we used flip phones, but not the cool kind!”

At least that’s how it feels after everything Google announced yesterday at its I/O event, the search giant’s yearly developer conference.

• Search: With ‘AI Snapshots,’ Google’s search results page, aka the most valuable real estate on the internet, is getting an AI makeover. Soon, the usual ‘10 blue links’ results page will also include an AI-generated summary of relevant information.
• Duet: Google’s workspace suite of apps – Docs, Sheets, and Gmail, to name a few – will soon come with an AI assistant. Example tasks include writing a job description from scratch and converting meeting notes into an email (you can sign up for the waitlist to try Duet and Snapshot here).
• Bard: Google’s AI-chatbot is now available to everyone.

And as a cherry on top, Google also launched three new Pixel phones, including the Pixel Fold, the tech giant’s first flip-phone (which, we’ll just come out and say it, is no Motorola Razr).

📸 Big picture: The last time Google demoed its AI, the chatbot made a factual error and parent-company Alphabet’s stock dropped by $100 billion. Following yesterday’s event, the stock rose by about $55 billion.