Welcome to Google I/O 2023 – what to expect from this annual developer conference

Every year, Google hosts a developer conference called Google I/O.

Welcome to Google I/O 2023 – what to expect from this annual developer conference
An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

The backstory: Every year, Google hosts a developer conference called Google I/O, where it shows off new developments in its software, web content and even hardware. While the conference is aimed at developers, the kickoff keynote usually features news about products consumers can look forward to. The keynote is streamed as well for people that can’t go in person.

More recently: This year, lots of eyes are on Google I/O, with the company seeming to lag behind in the latest tech for maybe the first time ever – especially in the AI tech race. OpenAI is killing the game right now with ChatGPT, and search engine competitor Bing has its own advanced AI chatbot that’s getting a lot of positive buzz. On the other hand, Google’s own beta chatbot, Bard, has been called out for giving misleading or false information to users. On top of fumbling the AI situation, Google could also lose a deal with Samsung to be the default search engine on its smartphones. So how is the brand planning going to pivot?

The development: Google I/O 2023 kicks off May 10 in the US, so we’ll be able to see what Google has in the pipeline to bring itself back to the top. One thing people are looking forward to is more info about the Pixel Fold, Google’s foldable smartphone, and other Pixel developments, like the launch of the Pixel 7a. We could also see the new Pixel Tablet and maybe even some news about the Pixel 8. Plus, there will likely be some AI-related announcements. There have been rumors that Google is building a totally new AI-powered search engine, even as it continues to add AI functions to the regular Google search engine. We’re excited to see what else is in store!

Key comments:

"This year, with the explosion of generative AI, there's going to be a lot more focus on Google from everyone else," said Avi Greengart, president and lead analyst at tech research firm Techsponential.

“It’s very clear that Google was [once] on a path where it could have potentially dominated the kinds of conversations we're having now with ChatGPT,” Margaret Mitchell, one of Google’s former Ethical AI leads, told Forbes. “The fact that the decisions made earlier were very shortsighted put it in a place now where there's so much concern about any kind of pushback.”