Google announces slew of AI advances, including a personal AI assistant coming soon

Google will soon unleash a wealth of new artificial intelligence-powered tools and systems, including an AI assistant that will help users by proactively performing tasks on their behalf.

“Agentic” AI, the recent buzzword of choice for tech firms, was a central focus of Google's annual developers conference, Google I/O. The upcoming AI agent, Gemini Spark, was one of many of the company's announcements from the conference Tuesday.

“We are firmly in our agentic Gemini era,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Tuesday before a packed amphitheater near the company’s Mountain View, California, headquarters. “I’ve played around with all sorts of agents and you can really see the potential, but it’s still early days when it comes to making agents easy to use, super secure and truly helpful.”

Google and its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., have poured billions into AI development. Its top finance executive said on a call with investors in late April that this year’s capital expenditures may climb as high as $190 billion. But the investment seems to be paying off, with its quarterly earnings showing strong growth. The stock has climbed another 11% since the report last month.

Pichai said during the keynote address that the Gemini app had 400 million monthly active users last year, but that usership has now surpassed 900 million, more than doubling in a year.

Google's latest family of models, Gemini 3.5, is rolling out Tuesday to billions of global users beginning with Gemini 3.5 Flash. The Flash model is focused on speed, and Google says 3.5 Flash is its strongest agentic and coding model yet, but it's also about four times faster than some competitors.

This model is now the default for the Gemini app and “AI mode” on Google search. The company is also working on the 3.5 version of Gemini Pro, which it says it's using internally and expects to launch next month.

Gemini 3.5 was developed with new, more advanced safety training and mitigations, meaning its models are less likely to generate harmful content or to mistakenly refuse to answer safe queries, the company said.

Google also announced a new model, Gemini Omni, which will enable users to create high-quality video by making a query with any input, be it text, images, videos and audio. The video Omni creates can then be edited easily though a conversation with the model. Users will eventually be able to create images and audio with Omni, but there were no details about when those features will be rolled out.

The company said Omni's videos will appear more realistic than videos created by other models because of its understanding of forces like gravity, kinetic energy and fluid dynamics.

Gemini Omni Flash, the first of the Omni family, is launching Tuesday for Google Al Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers through the Gemini app and Google Flow. Beginning this week, it will be available at no cost on YouTube Shorts and YouTube Create App.

All videos created with Omni will include Google's imperceptible digital watermark, SynthID, but Google is also adding content credentials verification to the Gemini app. This tool determines if content like photo or video was created by AI or captured with a phone camera and edited with AI tools. It will be available in search in Chrome in the coming months. Google also announced AI companies Open AI, Kakao and Eleven Labs are adopting its SynthID technology to more of their AI-generated content.

Powered by Gemini 3.5, Gemini Spark will be able to complete mundane, routine tasks like sorting through meeting notes, emails and chats and then creating a document with the biggest takeaways and to-dos. Unlike other available agents, Spark is based in the cloud, so it continues working in the background even when users shut their laptops or lock their phones.

The proactive nature of AI agents is what differentiates them from chatbots, and that has also led to some anxieties about the technology's power. Gemini Spark is designed to ask for permission before performing “high-stakes” tasks like sending an email or making a purchase, the company said.

Select testers will have access to the agent beginning Tuesday, and the company plans to roll out the beta mode to U.S.-based subscribers to its Google AI Ultra tier.

Later this summer, Gemini Spark will operate directly within Chrome, the company said.

Among the many AI-centric announcements at the conference was an update on the long-awaited smart glasses from Google, of which there will be two kinds: audio glasses that offer spoken help in your ear, and display glasses that provide information visually. The audio glasses will come first, with the company expecting them to arrive later this fall. Users will be able to say “Hey Google” or tap the side of the frame to access Gemini, which will then assist with navigation, managing communication on their phone, real-time translations and other tasks.

Google partnered with Samsung and eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to create the glasses and gave the first look at two designs on Tuesday, with sunglasses from Gentle Monster and glasses from Warby Parker. Those designs will launch as part of the eyewear brands' full collections later this year, Google said.

At last year’s conference, the most talked-about development was the introduction and rollout of “AI mode” on Google’s search engine. The feature gives users a more conversational answer to their query before providing relevant links, building on previously implemented changed how users experience and interact with the platform.

AI mode queries have more than doubled every quarter since its launch last year, and the tool recently surpassed 1 billion monthly users, according to Liz Reid, Google's head of search.

The new default model in search will now be Gemini 3.5 Flash and the company is introducing what it calls an intelligent search box. This change, which Reid says is the biggest upgrade to the search box in 25 years, means the box will adapt to accommodate longer queries and it can help users write out their questions with AI-powered suggestions instead of traditional autocomplete.

Users can also search using multiple modalities, using text, images, video, files and even Chrome tabs as search inputs. The new search box is starting its roll out Tuesday in all countries and languages where AI mode is currently available.

The company also announced a new tool, the Universal Cart, which it called “a truly intelligent shopping cart.” It works across merchants and across services so users can add things to their cart while browsing Google search, chatting with Gemini, watching YouTube, or reading emails in Gmail. The cart then runs on Gemini models to go to work as soon as an item is placed in the cart, looking for deals and price drops, providing price history information and alerting users when something comes back in stock.

The Universal Cart tool will be available to users on search and the Gemini app this summer, with YouTube and Gmail to follow.

——

Associated Press Writer Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California contributed to this story.

Shahram Izadi, of Android XR Platform & Products, speaks about intelligent eyewear while speaking at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Demis Hassabis, Co-Founder and CEO, Google DeepMind, speaks about Gemini Omni at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Attendees pose for photos before the keynote presentation at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The teenagers who killed three people at a San Diego mosque met online and shared a “broad hatred” toward different religions and races, authorities said Tuesday.

Mark Remily of the FBI said during a news conference that authorities have uncovered writings by the suspects. Authorities declined to specify what ideologies or views were expressed by the shooters.

Authorities have also recovered 30 firearms and a crossbow from two residences searched in connection to the investigation.

Remily said authorities are still trying to uncover whether the shooters had broader plans.

Hours before Monday's attack police were racing to find the two teenagers who would ultimately be deemed responsible.

The search began after the mother of one teen reported that her son was suicidal and had run away, according to Police Chief Scott Wahl, who said weapons and her vehicle were missing from the family's home. Two hours after her call, the shooting started at the Islamic Center of San Diego, which also houses a school.

The suspects, ages 17 and 18, were found nearby in a vehicle after killing themselves.

The shooting was the latest in a string of attacks on houses of worship and comes amid rising threats and hate crimes targeting the Muslim and Jewish communities since the beginning of war in the Middle East, forcing increases in security.

Authorities have not yet publicly identified the teens Tuesday morning, but after the shooting investigators were seen searching the San Diego home of Cain Clark, a high school senior. Clark's parents, who are listed in public records as living at the home, did not respond to messages seeking comment, nor did other family members.

James Canning, a spokesman for San Diego Unified School District, said school police were cooperating with San Diego authorities investigating the mosque attack. Clark had been attending school online since 2021 and was on track to graduate next month, he said.

While he did not attend school in person, he did participate in 2024 as a member of the wrestling team at Madison High School in San Diego. Canning said Clark had no record of disciplinary issues in high school.

Neighbors Marne and Ted Celaya said they last saw Clark a few hours before the shooting and that he waved as he got into a car alone and drove away. They described the Clark family as good neighbors of more than 20 years and remembered when Cain was born, watching him and his older brother grow up.

“It's unbelievable,” Marne Celaya said of the shooting. “He's helped me bring in my groceries.”

Authorities executed search warrants as they piece together how and why the attack happened. There was no specific threat against the Islamic center, which is the largest mosque in San Diego, but authorities found that the suspects engaged in “generalized hate rhetoric,” Wahl said.

Muslim American organizations were quick to point out that anti-Muslim rhetoric has been on the rise across the U.S. “Words have consequences,” said Mohamed Gula, interim CEO of advocacy group Emgage Action.

Among those killed was a security guard who authorities said stopped the attack from moving beyond the mosque's front section.

Imam Taha Hassane identified the victims as Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha and Nader Awad.

Kaziha, known as Abu Ezz, “was everything” to the Islamic Center, Hassane said.

“He was the handyman. He was the cook. He was the caretaker,” Hassane said.

Wahl spoke about how the three men helped distract the gunman, preventing a larger tragedy.

Abdullah had worked at the mosque for more than a decade.

“He wanted to defend the innocent so he decided to become a security guard,” said Shaykh Uthman Ibn Farooq, who spoke with Abdullah’s son.

In a Facebook post, the mosque said those who died were “men of courage, sacrifice, and faith,” the center wrote. “Their absence leaves a void that can never truly be filled.”

Just before the attack, the search for the missing teen intensified Monday morning as law enforcement gathered more details. Police found he had dressed in camouflage — raising their alarms — and was with a friend. Officers used automated license plate readers to track the car to a mall and went there.

The police chief said that while other officers were talking with the suspect's mother who had called police, the first reports of the shooting came from blocks away at the mosque, which sits in a neighborhood with Middle Eastern restaurants and markets. The center includes the Al Rashid School, which offers courses in Arabic language, Islamic studies and the Quran for students ages 5 and up, according to its website.

TV footage showed more than a dozen children holding hands and being walked out of the center's parking lot as it was surrounded by police vehicles.

As officers searched the mosque for the shooters, there were reports of people in a fleeing vehicle shooting at a landscaper who was not seriously hurt, Wahl said. Police then found the suspects dead.

Daniel McDonald said he was inside his house when he heard gunshots. He went outside to find the streets shut down, shattered glass on the pavement and a gardener who was shaken up. He said he saw police trying to revive one of the suspects.

Johnson reported from Seattle and Biesecker from Washington. Jaimie Ding and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Javier Arciga and Gregory Bull in San Diego, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

Orchids are left outside of the Islamic Center of San Diego, the day after a shooting, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nicole Witherow prays beside flowers placed outside of the Islamic Center of San Diego, a day after a shooting, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

People embrace outside of the Islamic Center of San Diego, a day after a shooting, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

People walk outside of the Islamic Center of San Diego, the day after a shooting, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A man who did not want to be identified stands outside of the Islamic Center of San Diego, the day after a shooting, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

People embrace outside of the Islamic Center of San Diego, the day after a shooting, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

This aerial image shows the Islamic Center of San Diego, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

People stand behind police tape at the scene of a shooting outside the Islamic Center of San Diego Monday, May 18, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Two men embrace at the scene of a shooting outside the Islamic Center of San Diego Monday, May 18, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

A body is covered with a tarp at the scene of a shooting outside the Islamic Center of San Diego Monday, May 18, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

People embrace near the scene of a shooting outside the Islamic Center of San Diego Monday, May 18, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)