Google hosted its biggest event of the year, I/O 2026, yesterday, unveiling a wide range of artificial intelligence announcements that offer a glimpse into how the company envisions the future of technology. The event focused heavily on AI models, AI agents, and smarter experiences across Google's ecosystem. The company introduced two new AI models — Gemini Omni and Gemini 3.5 Flash — alongside upgrades to its AI development platform and new agent-based tools for Search, shopping, and the Gemini app. On the first day, Google also announced new AI-powered experiences for products such as YouTube, wearable devices, and Google Photos, demonstrating how deeply the company plans to integrate AI into everyday digital experiences. Here is a recap of the major announcements made by Google.
Gemini Omni Becomes Google's Biggest AI Announcement
One of the biggest announcements at the event was Gemini Omni, a new multimodal AI model family that combines Gemini's reasoning abilities with advanced content creation capabilities. Google described Omni as "our new model that can create anything from any input — starting with video." The company stated that users can combine text, images, video, and audio inputs to create AI-generated videos grounded in Gemini's understanding of the real world. "Omni is our new model that can create anything from any input — starting with video. With Omni, you can combine images, audio, video and text as input and generate high-quality videos grounded in Gemini's real-world knowledge. You can also easily edit your videos through conversation," the company said in its official announcement.
The first model in the family, Gemini Omni Flash, is rolling out globally through the Gemini app, Google Flow, and YouTube Shorts. Google indicated that the model will later support additional output formats such as image and audio generation. Google also demonstrated conversational video editing, where users can edit videos using natural language instructions. According to the company, Omni maintains scene consistency, physics, and character continuity across multiple edits. All videos created using Gemini Omni will include SynthID digital watermarks for content transparency and verification.
Gemini 3.5 Flash Becomes Default Gemini Model
Alongside Omni, Google introduced Gemini 3.5 Flash, which is now the default model inside the Gemini app and AI-powered Search. Google stated that the model is significantly faster, better at coding, and more capable at agentic tasks. The company also claimed that Gemini 3.5 Flash includes stronger guardrails to reduce harmful outputs and accidental blocking of safe prompts. "Gemini 3.5 Flash delivers intelligence that rivals large flagship models on multiple dimensions, at the speeds you have come to expect from the Flash series. It's our strongest agentic and coding model yet," the company said.
Google mentioned that Gemini 3.5 Pro is currently in testing and will launch next month. As announced, 3.5 Flash is now the default model for the Gemini app and AI Mode in Search globally. The Gemini app itself is also receiving a redesign with updated animations, haptic feedback, and a new visual style that Google calls "neural expressive."
Gemini Spark Becomes Google's AI Agent
Google also unveiled Gemini Spark, an always-on AI agent platform that many reports described as Google's answer to OpenAI. Powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash, Spark runs continuously on Google Cloud virtual machines and can perform tasks such as writing emails, creating study guides, managing schedules, monitoring subscriptions and expenses, planning events, and researching information. Spark integrates with Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, while support for third-party apps through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) is also coming. Google stated that Spark will ask for user permission before performing sensitive or high-risk actions. Spark is currently rolling out to trusted testers and Google AI Ultra users in the US.
Google Expands Antigravity into Full AI Agent Platform
Google also announced major upgrades to Antigravity, its AI-first development platform. The company said that Antigravity is evolving from a coding assistant into a full agentic development system that can help build apps, software, and workflows through natural language. Google launched Antigravity 2.0, Antigravity CLI, desktop tools, and SDK support for developers. During demonstrations, Google showed Antigravity creating software and operating system components using AI agents. The company stated that the goal is to make "anyone a builder," even without traditional programming knowledge.
Universal Cart Brings AI Shopping to Google Ecosystem
Another major announcement was Universal Cart, which Google described as a "truly intelligent shopping cart." Explaining the new feature, Google said: "Universal Cart is an intelligent shopping cart and your new hub for shopping on Google. It works across merchants and across services, so you can add things to your cart while you're browsing Search, chatting with Gemini, watching YouTube, or even reading your Gmail." "The moment you add a product to your cart, it gets to work in the background — finding deals and price drops, giving you insights on price history, and alerting you when an item is back in stock. It all runs on our Gemini models, so your cart gets even smarter as the models improve." The system allows users to add products from Search, Gemini, YouTube, and Gmail. Users can then check out across multiple stores at once. Google said Universal Cart can track prices, suggest discounts, monitor loyalty rewards, alert users about compatibility issues, and recommend related items. Retailers including Nike, Walmart, Sephora, Wayfair, and Shopify are part of the system. Google stated that Universal Cart will begin rolling out this summer inside Search and Gemini.
Google Search Gets Its Biggest Upgrade in 25 Years
Google announced major updates to Search with deeper Gemini integration. The redesign pushes AI deeper into every part of the experience, drops users into interactive results for some queries, and introduces agents that scan the web on your behalf around the clock. The redesigned search box expands as you write longer, messier, more conversational queries—no more deciding upfront which mode you want. It accepts text, images, files, videos, and even open Chrome tabs as inputs. AI-powered suggestions appear as you type, which Google says go further than autocomplete. You can ask a follow-up straight from an AI Overview and slide into an AI Mode conversation without losing context. The new box is rolling out today wherever AI Mode is available. The company introduced information agents, intelligent search boxes, generative search layouts, and voice-powered search tools. "We're entering the era of Search agents, where you can easily create, customize, and manage multiple AI agents for your many tasks, right in Search. We're starting with information agents. Operating in the background, 24/7, these agents intelligently reason across information to find exactly what you need at exactly the right moment," the company said. Search can now answer more complex multimodal questions using text, images, and videos. Google also launched Gmail Live, which allows users to search emails using conversational voice prompts.
Ask YouTube Brings AI Search Inside Videos
Google introduced Ask YouTube, a new AI-powered feature for searching within YouTube videos. The tool allows users to ask questions about video content and receive contextual responses generated by Gemini AI. Google is also integrating Gemini Omni into YouTube Shorts and YouTube Create.
AI Expands Across Workspace and Apps
Google announced several AI upgrades across Workspace products. These include voice capabilities with new conversational features that help you brainstorm, organize your thoughts, and get things done in Gmail, Docs, and Keep using just your voice; Google Photos, an all-new app that reimagines how you generate and edit your images with ultimate precision for professional to everyday creative projects; AI Inbox, now expanding to Google AI Plus and Pro subscribers with new updates to help you better manage and stay on top of your inbox; and Gemini Spark, a new 24/7 personal AI agent in the Gemini app that can help you navigate digital life and take action on your behalf, under your direction, and integrate with your Workspace apps.
Smart Glasses and Android XR Return to Focus
Google also returned to wearable devices with multiple Android XR and smart glasses announcements. There will be two types of intelligent eyewear: audio glasses that offer spoken help in your ear, and display glasses that show you the information you need right when you need it. Both let you stay hands-free and heads-up, and get you help from Gemini just by asking. Audio glasses are launching first, coming later this fall. The company showed new intelligent eyewear developed alongside Samsung, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster. The glasses come with features such as live translation, audio assistance, navigation, Gemini AI integration, and notification summaries. Here are a few features coming to audio glasses: ask about what you see, navigate with ease, stay connected hands-free, capture and edit, translate speech and writing, get help with tasks, and tap into your apps. During the event, Google also updated Project Aura smart glasses developed with Xreal.
SynthID Expands Across Google Products
Google announced broader expansion of SynthID, its AI watermarking and content transparency technology. Expanding the availability of SynthID that was first introduced in 2023, Google said: "Our goal is to make it easier to learn more about the content you encounter online. That's why we recently added SynthID verification for image, video, and audio to the Gemini app. Already, it's been used 50 million times globally, and we're expanding this verification capability to Search today and Chrome over the coming weeks." "We're also adding verification for C2PA Content Credentials, to easily check if content is an unaltered original from a camera or if it has been modified, and by what tools. This feature is rolling out in the Gemini app starting today, and it will come to Search and Chrome in the coming months. This builds on features like the labels on YouTube that identify AI-generated content and our work with trusted testers on Backstory to make detection tools faster and more reliable," it added.
Gemini App Becomes More Agentic
During the Google I/O 2026 keynote, the company revealed that Gemini has crossed more than 900 million people across 230 countries and more than 70 languages. Google has redesigned the Gemini app with a design language it calls Neural Expressive. The interface now features fluid animations, vibrant colors, new typography, and haptic feedback. Google has also integrated the Gemini Live conversational experience directly into Gemini. "Now, you can seamlessly switch from typing a quick question to diving deep into a free-flowing conversation — and back again — without missing a beat. We also re-engineered the mic so you can tap and talk through a complex idea at your own pace without getting cut off mid-thought. And soon, we'll start offering regional dialects, allowing you to choose a voice that truly resonates with you," the official announcement said. Neural Expressive is rolling out globally today across the web, Android, and iOS for everyone.
Google AI Studio at I/O 2026
At Google I/O 2026, Google announced major upgrades to Google AI Studio, its AI-powered development platform designed to help users quickly build applications using artificial intelligence. The company said AI Studio has become one of the fastest ways for developers and creators to move from a simple prompt to a working production app, and the latest updates are aimed at expanding what users can build across Google's ecosystem. One of the biggest announcements was direct integration with Google Workspace services, allowing apps built inside AI Studio to work with Google Sheets, Drive, and documents without leaving the platform. Google said developers can now create dashboards using Sheets data, build tools that organize Drive content, and create applications that work directly with existing team documents and workflows. The company also announced support for exporting projects directly into Google Antigravity for local development. According to Google, conversation history, project files, and stored secrets will move together with the export, allowing developers to continue building projects with their teams while scaling development workflows more easily. Google also introduced several new AI-powered design tools inside AI Studio. These include custom asset generation powered by Nano Banana, which allows the AI Studio Build agent to automatically create images and interface assets while building apps. The company said the feature is designed to help developers create customized interfaces and prototypes without relying on external placeholder images or separate design software. Another new feature allows users to edit applications directly inside preview windows by drawing on components, annotating layouts, and generating updated visuals in real time. Google also announced a new mobile version of Google AI Studio, which is now available for pre-registration. The mobile app will allow users to create, edit, and preview applications directly from smartphones.
