Google Brings Gemini Nano AI to Pixel 8: Enhancing Features Soon

Good news, Pixel 8 owners: Google is bringing its Gemini Nano AI to the phone after all. The company announced the change today after facing blowback for initially saying the Pixel 8 couldn’t support the AI program. The company’s forum post didn’t address the user discontent. Instead, Google framed the change as an upcoming enhancement. We’re also going to expand the rollout of Gemini Nano to Pixel 8 users as a developer preview with the next Pixel Feature Drop. It will power two expanded features: Summarize in Recorder and Magic Compose in Messages. Google didn’t provide an exact release date. Still, it looks like Google has been listening to some of the consumer discontent. Back in December, the company debuted Gemini Nano, a cutting-edge AI model similar to ChatGPT, except small enough to run locally on a smartphone. But earlier this month, company engineer Terence Zhang told Android developers that Gemini Nano wouldn’t be coming to the Pixel 8 because of some hardware limitations. It would only be available on the Pixel 8 Pro and other high-end smartphone models, Zhang said. The news disappointed many Pixel 8 owners, especially since the phone launched a mere five months ago. Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro run the same Tensor G3 system-on-a-chip. In addition, Google had promised that both Pixels would get seven years of updates, and some consumers said they brought the Pixel 8 series precisely to receive AI-powered features.