Google says working AI fashions on telephones is a large RAM hog

Enlarge / The Google Gemini brand. (credit score: Google)

In early March, Google made the odd announcement that solely one of its two newest smartphones, the Pixel Eight and Pixel Eight Professional, would be capable to run its newest AI mannequin, referred to as “Google Gemini.” Regardless of having very related specs, the smaller Pixel Eight would not get the brand new AI mannequin, with the corporate citing mysterious “{hardware} limitations” as the rationale. It was an odd assertion contemplating the truth that Google designed and marketed the Pixel Eight to be AI-centric after which designed a smartphone-centric AI mannequin referred to as “Gemini Nano” but nonetheless could not make the 2 work collectively.

A couple of weeks later, Google is backtracking considerably. The corporate introduced on the Pixel Telephone Assist discussion board that the smaller Pixel Eight really will get Gemini Nano within the subsequent huge quarterly Android launch, which ought to occur in June. There is a catch, although—whereas the Pixel Eight Professional will get Gemini Nano as a user-facing characteristic, on the Pixel 8, it is solely being launched “as a developer possibility.” Which means you’ll flip it on solely through the hidden Developer Choices menu within the settings, and most of the people will miss out on it.

Google’s Seang Chau, VP of gadgets and providers software program, defined the choice on the corporate’s in-house “Made by Google” podcast. “The Pixel Eight Professional, having 12GB of RAM, was an ideal place for us to place [Gemini Nano] on the system and see what we might do,” Chau stated. “After we regarded on the Pixel Eight for instance, the Pixel Eight has 4GB much less reminiscence, and it wasn’t as straightforward of a name to only say, ‘all proper, we will allow it on Pixel Eight as effectively.'” In keeping with Chau, Google’s trepidation is as a result of the corporate does not need to “degrade the expertise” on the smaller Pixel 8, which solely has 8GB of RAM.