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Here Are 15 Coolest things Google Announced during Google IO 2023
At the annual Google I/O developer conference, a wide array of cutting-edge technologies and updates were showcased, all aimed at enhancing user experiences across various platforms.
Google emphasised its commitment to improving search experiences and ensuring user safety, by introducing new generative AI capabilities for search and implementing advanced tools for online protection.
Significant updates were also announced for Android, Pixel devices, and Google Photos. A standout moment of the conference was the unveiling of PaLM 2, Google’s latest generative language model. This breakthrough model surpasses previous language models in areas such as maths, coding, reasoning, multilingual translation, and natural language generation.
In addition to these advancements, Google reiterated its commitment to responsible AI, striving to address pressing societal challenges like climate change and flood forecasting while maintaining ethical AI practices.
Here are the 15 significant announcements made at Google IO that we thought would be of interest to you:.
1.PaLM 2, next generation language model: Google has unveiled PaLM 2, a next-generation language model designed to improve language translation, reasoning, and coding capabilities. The model is more heavily trained on multilingual text, demonstrating advanced proficiency in logic, common sense reasoning, and mathematics. Additionally, PaLM 2 was pre-trained on publicly available source code datasets, making it more efficient and faster than previous models. PaLM 2 will be available in four sizes, from smallest to largest: Gecko, Otter, Bison, and Unicorn, making it versatile for a range of use cases. The model is set to power 25 new Google products and features, including Bard and Med-PaLM 2, a medical competency model that can answer questions and summarise insights from dense medical texts. Learn more about PaLM 2.
2. Expansion of Bard: The waitlist has now been removed, making Bard available in English in over 180 countries and territories, with the addition of Japanese and Korean languages, and planning to support the world’s top 40 languages. As the platform expands, Google will focus on maintaining high standards for quality, local nuances and adherence to AI principles.
3. Image Capabilities: Google is making it easier to prompt Bard with images, using Google Lens. This integration of images with text in Bard aims to enrich the user experience by providing visually informative responses to queries. Users can also include images in their prompts, offering new possibilities for creativity and imagination.
4. Developer Features for Bard: Google is introducing three new ways to use Bard based on developer feedback: Making code citations even more precise by showing you the source of specific blocks of code. This also applies to citing narrative content from across the web; by adding export to Replit and by making Bard friendlier on the eyes in low-light conditions by introducing Dark theme.
5. Export to Docs and Gmail: Google is making it easier and more seamless for users to continue their work by exporting Bard’s responses to Google Docs or Gmail. Formatting stays intact so users can continue editing directly in Docs or Gmail without needing to copy, paste, and reformat Bard’s responses.
6. Integration into Apps:: Bard will be integrating with various Google apps and services like Docs, Drive, Gmail, Maps, and more, while maintaining user control over privacy settings. The platform will also connect with external services and partners, such as Adobe Firefly for image creation, Kayak for travel, Instacart for groceries, Wolfram for computational knowledge, and Khan Academy for education, offering a wide range of possibilities for users.
7. Integrating generative AI across all the Workspace apps: The new features help one write, organise, visualise, accelerate workflows, have richer meetings, and much more. This powerful new way of working is what Google calls Duet AI for Workspace. Google is bringing the generative AI experience to Gmail on mobile and embedding generative AI into Slides so one can easily create unique visuals with a few words. The generative AI will help one analyse and act on data in Sheets, with automated data classification and the creation of custom tables.
8. Simplifying Shopping with Generative AI: Google is using generative AI to make shopping faster and much easier, providing users with a snapshot of noteworthy factors to consider when searching for a product. Built on Google’s Shopping Graph, this new generative AI shopping experience will offer a seamless and informed decision-making process for users.
9. Search Labs: Google’s advanced generative AI capabilities are now accessible through Search Labs, an innovative platform that allows users to explore and engage with early-stage experiments in Search. By registering for Search Labs, users have the opportunity to experience the Search Generative Experience (SGE) on Chrome desktop and the Google App in the US (available in English at launch).
10. Magic Compose: Magic Compose, a new Messages by Google feature powered by generative AI, can help you add an extra spark of personality to your conversations. The feature offers suggested responses based on the context of your messages and can even transform your writing into different styles. Release set for July.
11. New AI features in Android: Google’s upcoming Android 14 update (expected later this year) promises to change the way users personalise their smartphone experience, taking customization to the next level. Material You customization enables users to personalise their lock screen with new shortcuts, clocks, and a monochrome colour theme. The update also offers diverse wallpaper options, including emoji, cinematic, and generative AI wallpapers that allow users to generate unique designs based on their preferences. To enhance social media, Google is bringing Night Mode and 10-bit HDR video support to popular social apps like Instagram. The Android 14 update introduces Ultra HDR, promising stunning photo quality and raising the bar for smartphone photography.
12. Reimagine Your Photos with Magic Editor in Google Photos: The new experimental editing feature, Magic Editor, powered by generative AI, will enable users to make complex photo edits effortlessly without requiring professional editing skills. Users can selectively edit specific parts of an image, such as the subject, sky, or background, for more control over the final appearance of their photos.
13. Features and Updates to Enhance Online Safety and Trust: Google’s new suite of features and updates aims to improve online safety and provide users with reliable access to trustworthy content and information. The “About This Image” tool helps users evaluate the reliability of visual content found online by providing important contextual information, such as when an image was first indexed by Google, its original appearance, and other online occurrences. Google is also expanding its Content Safety API to include potential child sexual abuse material in video content, addressing a critical safety concern as video files account for nearly 50% of all files reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
14. Spam view in Drive: Google’s ongoing efforts to protect Gmail users from unwanted messages, which currently block over 99.9% of spam, phishing, and malware, are now being extended to Google Drive with “Spam View”, a new feature that simplifies the process of separating and reviewing files, allowing users to identify potential spam and stay safe from unwanted or abusive content. Google Drive will automatically classify content into the Spam View, similar to Gmail’s current system, ensuring that users are protected from encountering dangerous or unwanted files.
15. New additions to the Pixel family: Google’s Pixel product line continues to expand with the introduction of three new devices: the Pixel 7a, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet. The Pixel 7a is Google’s latest A-series phone, featuring Face Unlock, 8GB RAM, a 90 Hz display, and wireless charging for the first time, making it an affordable package with the best of Google’s hardware and software. The Pixel Fold is Google’s first foldable phone, boasting a 7.6-inch screen when opened, offering a large, immersive display, and the best camera on a foldable phone, ensuring high-quality photography. Additionally, the 11-inch Pixel Tablet is designed for entertainment and gaming, comes with a Charging Speaker Dock, and functions as a helpful smart home device.
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Paradigm Initiative Champions Digital Rights and Inclusion at Africa IGF 2025 in Dar es Salaam
Paradigm Initiative (PIN) has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing digital rights and inclusion across Africa following its active participation in the 2025 Africa Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF), held in Dar es Salaam from May 29 to 31.
The forum convened diverse stakeholders from governments, civil society, the private sector, and academia to explore pressing internet governance issues under the theme “Building a Resilient Digital Ecosystem that Supports Africa’s Sustainable Growth and Global Leadership.”
PIN’s delegation contributed to conversations around digital security, digital rights and inclusion policy and compliance, emerging technologies, global governance, highlighting digital threats and making recommendations for an inclusive and rights-respecting digital landscape. Drawing from its research and advocacy efforts across the continent, the organisation offered practical policy recommendations aimed at fostering an open, secure, and human rights-respecting digital environment.
“The Africa IGF continues to serve as a critical space for shaping Africa’s digital future. We were pleased to contribute insights and amplify the urgent need for inclusive and rights-centric digital governance,” said ‘Gbenga Sesan, Paradigm Initiative’s Executive Director.
During the forum, PIN hosted and participated in multiple sessions, including: A panel on protecting civic space online, a workshop on bridging the digital divide through inclusive policies, and bilateral meetings with regional and global partners on shaping digital governance frameworks in the lead-up to key global internet governance conversations.
PIN’s presence at the AfIGF 2025 not only spotlighted emerging digital threats but also underscored its commitment to ensuring that all technological advancements and policies globally translate into greater digital freedoms and opportunities, not restrictions.
As part of its ongoing advocacy, the organisation will continue to engage with stakeholders across sectors to ensure that digital transformation in Africa is anchored in rights, equity, and inclusion.
MTN Nigeria today held the opening ceremony for the 2025 edition of 21Days of Y’ello Care, the company’s annual employee volunteerism initiative.
This year’s campaign, themed “Connecting at the Roots – Connecting Communities through Digital Tools,” will run from June 1 to June 21, 2025, and focuses on supporting communities that continue to face barriers to digital access and connectivity.
MTN Nigeria kicked off on Sunday June 1 with trainings across different locations in Lagos where staff of the company volunteered to delivered training in valuable areas such as digital marketing and personal branding and employability skills.
In line with the Group-wide campaign theme, MTN Nigeria is implementing a series of grassroots initiatives aimed at expanding digital inclusion and connectivity in underserved areas.
Planned activities include equipping schools and community youth centres with devices, digital literacy workshops, deployment of community Wi-Fi access points, support for digital entrepreneurship and the establishment of an all-in-one Y’ello Pods across the country that will provide a digital hub for learning and support financial inclusion.
Speaking at the opening ceremony held in Lagos, Karl Toriola, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria said, Y’ello Care matters to us because we’re a digital company and we’re operating in an environment where there are so many needs. At MTN Nigeria, we care, and we want to show our direct connection and responsibility to the communities we operate in.
Now in its 18th year, Y’ello Care is a groupwide flagship MTN employee volunteering initiative that encourages MTNers to volunteer their time and expertise to support positive social change.
The campaign reflects MTN’s purpose to enable the benefits of a modern connected life for everyone and is anchored in the company’s core values.
In 2024, in a remarkable demonstration of corporate volunteerism, MTN staff, through the Y’ello Care initiative, reconstructed a school block at Iwerekun Community High School, Lakowe. This effort has restored hope and significantly improved learning conditions for both students and teachers.
For further information, updates on “21 Days of Y’ello Care”and MTN Nigeria’s commitment to social development, please visit yellocare.ng or follow us on social media.
Fresh, on-the-ground evidence from health planners and climate analysts in Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa shows how the Open Buildings dataset, which maps more than 1.8 billion structures, is helping frontline projects close service gaps and strengthen community resilience.
Across the continent, artificial-intelligence tools are graduating from pilots to public-service workhorses, powering everything from crop-price forecasts to live language translation. Open Buildings—developed by researchers at Google Research Africa—is part of that shift, proving that open, locally guided AI can turn sparse data into timely decisions without locking African problem-solvers behind paywalls or proprietary gates.
In Rwanda, the Ministry of Health and Kigali-based Sand Technologies resited rural clinics with help from the dataset. Their new blueprint aims to bring 92% of citizens within a 30-minute reach of care, trimming journeys that put mothers and newborns at risk.
Across Northern Nigeria, epidemiologists at AFENET and geographers from WorldPop uncovered 10,250 buildings, guiding vaccinators who reached 70% of the zero-dose and under-immunized children identified through the mapping in just six months.
Meanwhile, the World Resources Institute (WRI) has already applied this flood-risk modelling in Dire Dawa, Kigali, Musanze, Gqeberha and Johannesburg, combining two-dimensional hydraulic simulations with building footprints to create block-by-block exposure maps.
The need is pressing: Nairobi is still recovering from the May 2024 floods that displaced more than 278 000 residents, while Johannesburg’s rapid growth along the flood-prone Jukskei River continues to heighten vulnerability
These projects tackle challenges felt across the continent. Africa still has about 8.7 million “zero-dose” children who receive no routine vaccines each year, while the urban population is projected to almost double to nearly one billion people by 2035— forcing new homes into high-risk floodplains and informal settlements.
By giving ministries, city engineers and NGOs a street-level view of where communities are growing and how they change over time, the Open Buildings dataset lets limited budgets flow to the people and places that need them most.
Dr Aisha Walcott-Bryant, Research Scientist & Head, Google Research Africa, “These projects show what happens when local expertise meets open, scalable technology: mothers reach clinics sooner, children receive long-overdue vaccines, and city planners get ahead of the next flood.
“We’re thrilled to stand beside partners who turn data into decisive action, proving that AI’s highest calling is to solve real-world challenges.”
From lifesaving clinics to climate-smart cities, these projects show how open AI is fast becoming Africa’s quiet engine for equitable progress.
The Open Buildings dataset—along with sample code, tutorials and its new 2.5D layer—is freely available at g.co/openbuildings.
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