Google Pixel 9 phones: all AI features

Google’s Pixel 9 series is officially here and the company can’t stop talking about the upcoming AI features.

In terms of hardware, Google has increased the RAM on all new phones to accommodate the memory-hungry AI on the device. The Pixel 9 received 12GB of RAM, while the rest will have 16GB of storage.

But the more important side of the story is the software—all phones get a handful of new Pixel-exclusive AI features. And the Pro phones also get a year of Google One AI Premium, which offers access to Gemini Advanced, Google’s most powerful AI system.

Here’s a look at the key AI features on the Pixel 9 that Google announced today.

Google’s new Pixel Screenshots feature is a bit like Microsoft’s Recall feature, which uses artificial intelligence to track everything you do on your computer by constantly taking screenshots, except it’s more of a manual affair. For example, if you want to keep track of an event you’re planning with friends or a recipe for dinner, you can take a screenshot and look up the information later in the conversation. Google says this is exclusive to Pixel devices.

Google has also taken inspiration from Apple, giving Gemini the ability to answer you based on what’s on your phone screen when you ask it. The company says that after you bring up Gemini, you can tap “Ask about this screen” or “Ask about this video” to direct the model to what you’re watching for contextual answers. Google says this will allow Gemini to add, for example, a list of restaurants from a YouTube travel video to Google Maps.

Gemini will be faster as a voice assistant, Google says, thanks to new models like Gemini 1.5 Flash. The company says this model also offers higher-quality answers and doesn’t make mistakes quite as often as previous versions of the assistant. Google is also adding more extensions to Gemini so it can pull information from or get things done in apps like Keep, Tasks, Utilities and Google Calendar.

Google is rolling out its own version of ChatGPT’s voice chat, called Gemini Live. The company says the feature enables natural conversation, allowing you to interrupt Gemini mid-sentence or pause a conversation and resume later. Gemini Live even works when your screen is locked, according to Google. However, it’s only available to Gemini Advanced subscribers.

Google is adding a new Magic Editor option that lets you “reframe” a photo by typing in what you want to see and then letting the app transform parts of the image. So if you want, you can completely replace the sky or other aspects of a background by describing something completely different. Who needs a perfect day when you can make one, I guess?

Similar to the new Magic Editor feature, the Pixel 9 camera’s Add Me option makes it easy to take group photos without bothering strangers. Just snap a photo of your friends, pass your phone, and go to the same place they were, and the camera will stitch the two images together.

A new Pixel Studio app lets you create illustrations using text prompts. This feature requires you to be connected to the internet—it doesn’t work on the device like the others.

Google is adding an AI-powered feature that lets you share parts of an image or your screen when you use Circle to Search. After circling the part you want, you can tap a new share button to send it via text. It’s basically cropping part of an image for sharing, but without the usual hassle of editing an image.

Google’s new Pixel Weather app offers AI-generated weather reports.

Google will use AI to create summaries of phone calls after you hang up. Google says this is useful for filtering out details from a call. It cites the example of when you’ve been referred to a new hair salon and forget to write down the phone number. The company says the calls and summaries are “never sent to the cloud” and it notifies everyone on a call before transcribing and summarizing the call.