Google held its annual developer conference Google I/O 2026 in Mountain View, California, xrust reported. The event was one of the largest in recent years and finally confirmed: Google is relying not just on the development of artificial intelligence, but on a complete restructuring of its ecosystem around AI.
The main topic of the conference was Gemini — a family of neural network models that is now integrated into almost all of the company’s products: from search and YouTube to Android and cloud services. Google CEO Sundar Pichai bluntly stated on stage that the company has entered a new phase of development, where artificial intelligence becomes “the interface to the entire Internet.”
Gemini 3.5 and Google’s new bet on “agent” AI
One of the central announcements was the Gemini 3.5 Flash model. Google calls it the fastest and most versatile version of Gemini to date. According to the company, the model is focused not only on responding to the user, but also on performing complex actions — from writing code to automating tasks.
The conference also presented Gemini Omni, a new generation multimodal system capable of working simultaneously with text, images, audio and video. Google says that the model can edit videos using regular text commands and maintain the integrity of the scene during repeated changes.
Another important announcement is Gemini Spark. This is a personal AI agent that should work in the background and help the user perform everyday tasks: answer emails, search for information, manage documents and interact with third-party services. In fact, Google is trying to move from the concept of a “chatbot” to a full-fledged next-generation digital assistant.
Google's largest search update in a quarter of a century
Particular attention at Google I/O 2026 was paid to the search engine. The company called the changes “the biggest search update in the last 25 years.”
Google Search now gets a deeply integrated AI Mode. Users will be able to ask complex questions, upload images, videos, documents, and even browser tabs for analysis. The search will not just provide links, but will actually generate ready-made answers and complete tasks.
In addition, Google introduced a system of “information agents”. They will be able to track changes on sites, notify the user about events, price changes, product releases or updates on topics of interest.
For the Russian market, such an approach looks especially interesting against the backdrop of the active development of generative search and AI services among domestic technology companies. Google is clearly seeking to secure its role as the main platform of the new “agent Internet.”
Android XR and the return of smart glasses
One of the most discussed moments of the conference was the demonstration of Android XR, a mixed reality platform that Google is developing together with Samsung and Qualcomm.
The company showed new smart glasses created in collaboration with the Gentle Monster and Warby Parker brands. Devices will be able to display navigation, translate speech in real time, take photos and interact with Gemini without having to take out a smartphone.
For Google, this is actually the second attempt to enter the smart glasses market after the controversial story with Google Glass. However, now the company is relying not on the gadget itself, but on AI functions, which should become the main advantage of the devices.
AI comes to YouTube, Gmail and Chrome
Google also announced large-scale integration of AI into its popular services. YouTube will feature the Ask YouTube feature, a video search system with the ability to ask complex questions and get specific video clips.
Live AI features with voice interaction are being introduced into Gmail and Google Docs, and the Chrome browser is getting Gemini-based tools to automate web pages.
For developers, Google introduced updated Google AI Studio tools and the Antigravity 2.0 platform, which allows you to create applications and services using text commands.
The community reaction was mixed
Despite the scale of the announcements, part of the audience greeted the conference without much enthusiasm. On Reddit, many users complained that Google I/O 2026 had turned almost exclusively into a presentation of AI products, and there were noticeably fewer traditional new products for developers.
Nevertheless, analysts note: Google is demonstrating an extremely aggressive strategy in the artificial intelligence race. The company strives to integrate Gemini into literally all products of the ecosystem and thereby create its own standard for human interaction with digital services.
In essence, Google I/O 2026 showed how the corporation sees the near future: search turns into a dialogue, the browser into an assistant, and the smartphone and wearable devices into a constant interface for communication with AI. And it is around Gemini that almost the entire Google strategy for the coming years is now being built.
From the pages https://www.financialexpress.com/, https://www.nytimes.com/
Xrust Google I/O 2026: How Gemini became the center of the entire Google ecosystem
