Generative AI was everywhere at Google I/O 2026, but who is it for?

I'm going to switch gears because I want to talk about generative AI

and certainly in terms of how we've seen it be applied today for video creation and audio creation

because that was quite a significant part of what we saw. We saw the demos around having a video clip

and then it automatically creating 16 different camera angles to cut videos together, and how easily it was

that you can then, with one prompt, turn it from day to night

But so, Timothy, I wanted to get your insight here on how you feel that these things have progressed

I know we started when things were shaky and everyone had lots of fingers

And now it's basically indistinguishable from real life. What's your take here

Yeah, I mean, if you think back to Google AI 2025, that's really when they dropped Google VO like a bomb

I mean, that was the first AI video model that really you had to say, wow, I'm not sure I can tell the difference

And so this just adds even more impressive capabilities that we're going to have to deal with

I mean, that's why I was glad they spent so much time talking about Synth ID and the way to digitally watermark these devices

I think that's very, very important. But yeah Do you think that going to be enough to safeguard people against being deemed by these things

No, but it's better than nothing. It's, you know, OpenAI and their announcement that they're adopting, it said, hey, we're going to take a multilayered approach

So I think just the more of these digital watermarks and protections they can build in, the better

But I think the other thing you've got to remember is that Google has all these different tools

They introduced Omnia World Model. They have VO. They have the Flow Tool

I think a lot of the average Google person user will have a hard time keeping them all straight

But for sophisticated power users, yeah, I think it's definitely an impressive feat

I guess we also have Patrick Holland calling in. Patrick Holland on the ground at Google I.O

Patrick, how is the day going? this year. Sonny. Yeah, you nice. You're real. I'm

really here. This is not an AI. We heard a lot about AI. It's a

two-hour presentation outdoors about AI. So it's going pretty fantastic. How has the coffee been

Is that a coffee been keeping you going? Hey, get this. So

if you're a fan of coffee, you know about the third wave movement that started in the early

2010s and Intelligentsia Hello there this CNET Group VideoStar is right right behind me Was a coffee shop out in Chicago called Intelligentsia Coffee now owned by Peace Coffee

now in your thing. So we're having some delicious Intelligentsia Coffee, and it's yummy, and it hits the spot, and I'm so glad they have it. And it is also real

Yeah, I wish I had cake. Well, real is good. And Patrick, how can you be 100% sure you're not an AI? Is there like, you know

Do we have a full-on test for that now? Are we entering that form of sci-fi

I don't have a synth ID for myself, but do you have a birth certificate somewhere

that I have to pull out every 10 years to do stuff with? Hopefully that's good enough for you guys

That works for me. Patrick, I wanted to ask two things for you

What, for you, is your favorite thing of a show, and what thing gave you most cause for concern

Oh, I absolutely love the smart glasses preview, the Android XR stuff

I think that stuff is really neat. I think it could be a lot of fun. I think it's approachable and easy to take away

which is probably why they shoved it right at the very end there. But that's the thing I'm most excited about

And I'm not even like a big smart glasses third. I don't have meta smart glasses or Ray-Ban or any of that stuff

Yeah I just excited to try them out It something that as someone who not a huge fan of smart watches I think stuff like smart rings are interesting I think smart glasses are kind of interesting too

So I got to try a demo of a prototype a year ago at last year's IO

So it's not fair if I'll get to try a prototype of the one this year

I'm hoping so. But also, how cool are those frames by General Monster

I think I'd look pretty good in a pair. And what was the second part of your question

What was the bit that gave you most cause for concern? What did you like the least

I don't know if this is what I like the least, but I think there's this paradox here

There's this paradox of this groundbreaking, truly amazing technology for AI, for AI video creation

And then on the other side of it is just all of us who are not even steeped into it

I think of my brother. I think of friends who are intelligent people, but not tech journalists

And I just see like an exhaustion of like AI slop in their social media feeds and things like that

And I guess the question in my head is like, is all those consequences that we see of it worth the 10 percent or whatever number of people who actually really take advantage of these tools and put them to their mind

But it's just this weird paradox. So I couldn't say I don't like it, but it exists

And I wonder what's going to happen in the future