周三，一年一度的Google开发者大会拉开帷幕，Google表现出了更加低调的一面。2022年的Google更加务实和理智，它更像聚焦商业领域的对手微软，而不是科技发烧友的梦幻乐园。
从表面上看，这是故意为之。大胆的愿景仍然存在，但距离实现还有很长一段距离。如今执掌Google的职业经理人越来越注重从这些年来的研发支出中榨取资金。
Google创始人布林曾利用高空跳伞展示Google眼镜
Google最大的押注在人工智能领域，但是至少目前并不意味着科幻小说会成成为现实，它只是对现有产品进行更细微的改变。
“人工智能正在改进我们的产品，让它们变得更有用、更容易获取，并为每个人提供创新的新功能。”GoogleCEO桑达尔·皮查伊(Sundar Pichai)周三表示。
有用就行
Google曾经拥有一批“登月项目”，试图解决全球性重大问题，包括无人驾驶汽车、高空互联网气球、智慧城市、送货无人机等。Google在这些被称之为“其他赌注”的项目上的投入不计成本，给公司带来了不少亏损。
但是，周三的大会缺少“惊叹”时刻。Google不断强调，它的产品是“有用的”。事实上，Google高管们在两个小时的主题演讲中使用了50多次“有用”、“有助于”或“有用的”，包括在其新硬件产品的营销活动中写道：“有用，必须的。”
Google推出了一款更便宜的Pixel智能手机、一款圆形屏幕的智能手表，以及一款将于明年推出的新平板电脑。Google称，这是“世界上最有用的平板电脑”。
中端手机Pixel 6a
此次主题演讲获得的最大掌声来自Google文档的一个新功能，该公司的人工智能算法自动将一个很长的文档总结成一个段落。
目前还不清楚Google的其他一些开创性工作，最终将如何催生出Google所吹捧的下一代计算，例如更好地理解自然对话的语言模型，或者可以将任务分解为逻辑上更小步骤的技术。
演化而非革命
当然，一些新想法看起来确实很有帮助。Google在演示如何继续改进其搜索技术时展示了一个名为“多搜索”的功能，用户可以对一个装满巧克力的架子拍照，然后从照片中找到评价最好而且没有坚果的黑巧克力棒。在另一个例子中，Google展示了如何找到特定菜肴的图片，比如韩国炒面，然后搜索附近提供这道菜的餐馆。
许多功能由Google多年来通过所谓的机器学习、图像识别和自然语言理解进行的深度技术工作提供支撑。对于Google和其他大型科技巨头来说，这代表着一种演化而非革命。
许多公司能够以比过去更容易、更快捷的方式建立数字服务，这是因为有云计算和存储等共享技术，但是建立人工智能语言模型等底层基础设施非常耗钱、耗时，只有财力雄厚的公司可以投资他们。
就像Google活动通常展示的一样，它没有花一点时间解释它是如何赚钱的。在花费了一个小时宣布其他消息后，Google提出了广告话题，强调了一个名为“我的广告中心”的新功能。它将允许用户要求某些品牌发布更少广告，或突出他们希望看到更多广告的主题。目前，广告仍然占据Google营收的80%。
目前，行业整体形势不佳，科技股大跌。Facebook母公司Meta开始冻结招聘，并收缩元宇宙项目。网约车巨头Uber也在削减成本，谨慎招聘。从这次开发者大会来看，Google也不像以前那么高调了。
On Wednesday, the annual Google developer conference kicked off, and Google showed a more low-key side. The 2022 Google is more pragmatic and rational, more like Microsoft, a business-focused rival, than a fantasy paradise for tech enthusiasts.
On the face of it, it was done on purpose. A bold vision still exists, but it is still a long way from being realized. Today, professional managers in charge of Google are increasingly focused on squeezing money out of R & D spending over the years.
Brin, founder of Google, used skydiving to show Google glasses.
Google’s biggest bet is on artificial intelligence, but at least for now it doesn’t mean science fiction will become a reality, it just makes more subtle changes to existing products.
“artificial intelligence is improving our products to make them more useful and accessible, and to provide innovative new features for everyone.” GoogleCEO Sandal Pichai (Sundar Pichai) said on Wednesday.
As long as it works.
Google once had a number of “moon landings” that tried to solve major global problems, including self-driving cars, high-altitude Internet balloons, smart cities, delivery drones and so on. Google’s investment in these so-called “other bets”, regardless of cost, has brought a lot of losses to the company.
But Wednesday’s conference lacked an “amazing” moment. Google has repeatedly stressed that its products are “useful”. In fact, Google executives used “useful”, “helpful” or “useful” more than 50 times in their two-hour keynote speeches, including writing: “useful, necessary” in their marketing campaign for their new hardware products.
Google has unveiled a cheaper Pixel smartphone, a smartwatch with a round screen and a new tablet to be launched next year. Google called it “the most useful tablet in the world”.
Mid-range mobile phone Pixel 6a
The biggest applause for the keynote speech came from a new feature of Google documents, whose artificial intelligence algorithm automatically summarizes a long document into a paragraph.
It is unclear how some of Google’s other groundbreaking work will eventually lead to the next generation of computing touted by Google, such as language models that better understand natural conversations, or techniques that can break tasks into logically smaller steps.
Evolution, not revolution.
Of course, some new ideas do seem to help. Google showed off a feature called “multiple search” when demonstrating how to continue to improve its search technology, where users can take pictures of a shelf full of chocolates and find the best-rated black chocolate bars without nuts. In another example, Google shows how to find a picture of a particular dish, such as Korean fried noodles, and then search for a nearby restaurant that serves the dish.
Many features are supported by Google’s deep technical work over the years through so-called machine learning, image recognition, and natural language understanding. For Google and other big tech giants, this represents an evolution rather than a revolution.
Many companies can build digital services in easier and faster ways than in the past because of shared technologies such as cloud computing and storage, but building underlying infrastructure such as artificial intelligence language models is very expensive and time-consuming. only companies with deep pockets can invest in them.
As Google events usually show, it doesn’t take a moment to explain how it makes money. After spending an hour announcing other news, Google raised the topic of advertising, highlighting a new feature called my Advertising Center. It will allow users to require certain brands to post fewer ads or highlight themes on which they want to see more ads. Advertising still accounts for 80 per cent of Google’s revenue.
At present, the overall situation of the industry is not good, and technology stocks have fallen sharply. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has begun to freeze hiring and scale back its metacosmos project. Ride-hailing giant Uber is also cutting costs and hiring cautiously. Judging from this developer conference, Google is not as high-profile as it used to be.
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