Google 'Pixie' AI assistant allegedly in development for Pixel 9 series

Google Assistant has been available on Android for several years and has become a core component of the Android experience. However, after its recent developments in the field of AI, Google could be developing a new assistant called Pixie, but exclusively for its Google Pixel devices.

In recent years, Google has been trying to remove the ‘niche’ status of its Pixel devices to reach a broader audience. To achieve this, in addition to investing more in marketing, the company understands that they must offer exclusive features that can only be found in their products.

While the cameras on Google Pixel phones are always excellent, there are also excellent cameras on devices from other brands. So, the company seems to be betting now on AI-powered features as a differentiating element, and the next step on this path could be an AI voice assistant called Pixie just for their phones.

According to the report, Pixie will be a more advanced and personalized version of Google Assistant that will support ‘complex and multimodal tasks’. For example, it could suggest in real time the closest place where you can get or buy an object or product that you have photographed.

Like the current Google Assistant, Pixie will use your ‘activity log’ in the company’s products to personalize the experience for your profile. It will also harness the power of the latest Gemini AI model developed by Google.

It should be noted that the new assistant will be different from the ‘Assistant with Bard’ experience that Google has also been working on, as the latter will also be available on some recent Samsung flagships (as detected by 9to5Google), while Pixie will only be available on Pixel devices.

The Information points out that the Pixie AI assistant could be launched with the Google Pixel 9 series in 2024. Also, the Google team could be discussing the possible development of AI-powered glasses with object recognition capacity.

The possible development of Pixie seems like exciting news for Google Pixel users since their devices would have another really differentiating feature over other brands. However, it could also make us wonder if Android users will stop receiving new Google Assistant features at the rate they have been receiving them, since some future ones could be ‘Pixie assistant exclusive’.