What’s happened? Google today released a surprise Pixel Drop update for its Pixel lineup, bringing a bunch of new features to Pixel 6 and newer models. Alongside the new features, the company announced a new AI processing platform for the Pixel 10 series that promises the same level of privacy and security as on-device processing, even when using advanced Gemini cloud models.

• The new platform, called Private AI Compute, is designed to deliver the full speed and power of Gemini models in the cloud, while ensuring users’ personal data stays private.
• It will allow on-device features to offer more advanced capabilities without compromising privacy, starting with an upgrade for the Pixel 10 series’ Magic Cue feature, which can now offer “more timely suggestions.”
• Google is also using this platform to power transcription summaries in a wider range of languages in the Pixel Recorder app.

Why is this important? With the Private AI Compute platform, Google aims to reassure users that their sensitive data will remain private, even if they use AI features powered by Gemini models in the cloud.

• For users, this should result in a significant performance boost in supported AI features without any privacy or security trade-offs.
• The platform also lets Google unlock new capabilities, like more proactive suggestions from Magic Cue and expanded language support for transcription summaries in the Recorder app, without compromising user privacy.

Why should I care? Since cloud-based advanced Gemini models are more capable than their on-device counterparts, features powered by Private AI Compute should deliver noticeable performance gains without compromising your privacy.

• If you have a Pixel 10 series phone, you can expect more timely and helpful suggestions from the Magic Cue feature.
• You’ll also get transcription summaries in more languages in the Recorder app, which currently only supports summaries for transcriptions in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, and Italian.

What’s next? These Private AI Compute-powered features mark the start of a new wave of AI experiences that combine on-device and advanced cloud models for sensitive use cases. Google is expected to utilize the platform to enhance existing AI features on Pixel devices and introduce new features, allowing you to do more while keeping your data private.