Google I/O 2025 Preview: Gemini Upgrades, AI Agents, and the Future of Android
- 10/05/2025 17:47 PM
- Emma
All Eyes on Google as It Prepares Major Announcements Across Gemini, Android 16, and Multimodal AI Platforms
As artificial intelligence continues to dominate the tech conversation, Google is preparing to make its most aggressive push yet into the AI arena. With I/O 2025 just around the corner, leaks and early reports suggest Google will unveil a sweeping lineup of upgrades to its AI platforms, mobile operating systems, and developer tools — all aimed at reinforcing its position in a highly competitive global AI market.
Here’s a full breakdown of what to expect from Google at this year’s I/O event.
Gemini Ultra: Google’s Most Advanced AI Model Is Getting an Upgrade
Google’s flagship family of AI models, Gemini, is set to expand with the release of an upgraded version of Gemini Ultra — the company’s most powerful, top-tier model designed to rival OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus.
While details remain limited, multiple leaks have confirmed that Gemini Ultra’s update is imminent, and that it may bring improved multimodal capabilities, faster inference speeds, and better performance in complex reasoning tasks. As Google increasingly positions Gemini Ultra as a core component of its enterprise and developer ecosystem, this update could be a major moment for the company’s AI roadmap.
The launch may also come with new subscription pricing tiers, expanding beyond the current $20/month Gemini Advanced plan. Internal documents and code references hint at two new offerings: Gemini Premium Plus and Gemini Premium Pro. Pricing and feature breakdowns remain under wraps, but Google appears to be preparing a more nuanced pricing structure — possibly aimed at different segments such as power users, researchers, and developers.
Project Astra and Mariner: Google's AI Agents Take Center Stage
In addition to new models, Google is expected to showcase significant progress on its AI agent technologies, particularly under two internal projects: Project Astra and Project Mariner.
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Project Astra is Google’s overarching initiative to build real-time, multimodal AI systems capable of understanding text, images, audio, and video simultaneously. These systems aim to act as intelligent personal assistants — able to interpret commands, respond to context, and generate content on the fly.
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Project Mariner, meanwhile, appears focused on developing autonomous agents that can navigate and interact with the web on behalf of users. Code references found in Google’s AI Studio suggest features such as “Computer Use,” which could allow these agents to complete tasks online — including filling out forms, booking appointments, or summarizing content — without user micromanagement.
These agent-focused initiatives represent Google’s shift from static chatbots to interactive, goal-oriented digital entities — a growing trend across the AI industry.
Android 16: Material 3 Expressive and Smart Feature Upgrades
In a first, Google will host a dedicated Android event — The Android Show — ahead of the main I/O keynote. The focus will be Android 16, the next major iteration of the world’s most widely used mobile OS.
According to leaks and developer previews, Android 16 will emphasize user experience refinements and a bold visual refresh:
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Material 3 Expressive: A sweeping new design language, featuring dynamic responsiveness and interactive “action elements” that make the UI more tactile and engaging.
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Improved notifications: Smarter, context-aware alerts designed to reduce interruptions.
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Auracast support: Better Bluetooth device handoff and audio sharing.
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Lock screen widgets: A long-requested feature finally returning with modern customization.
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Accessibility improvements: Broader support for screen readers, live captioning, and motor assistance tools.
Android XR (Google’s mixed reality platform) and Wear OS (its wearable operating system) are also expected to receive updates, reinforcing Google’s presence in the immersive computing space.
Developer Ecosystem: Chrome, Google Cloud, and Gemma
Beyond flagship product announcements, Google I/O 2025 will host a wide array of technical sessions covering:
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Google Cloud AI and ML pipelines
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Chrome updates for performance and privacy
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Google Play tools for monetization and app discovery
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Gemma: Google’s family of open AI models, optimized for lightweight deployment and research use
Gemma is especially important as Google looks to provide more flexible, commercially permissive alternatives to open-source models from Meta and Mistral. These models are expected to play a central role in enterprise applications and fine-tuned internal tools.
Surprise Reveal? NotebookLM and Video Overviews
Google is known for its surprise AI launches at I/O, and this year may be no different. Insiders suggest that an update to NotebookLM, Google’s AI-powered research and podcast tool, could be in the works. The update may introduce a new feature called Video Overviews, which could allow the model to generate video summaries of documents or conversations using technology derived from Google’s Veo 2 video generation system.
If confirmed, this would further push Google into the automated multimedia generation space, a domain increasingly dominated by startups and platforms like Runway, Pika, and OpenAI’s Sora.
Google’s AI Bet Is Expanding in Every Direction
With I/O 2025, Google isn’t just showcasing new features — it’s demonstrating a strategic, full-stack vision of the AI future: from foundational models and intelligent agents to mobile ecosystems and developer platforms.
As competitors like OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and DeepSeek race to build the next generation of AI systems, Google’s efforts around Gemini, Android, and autonomous agents suggest it is doubling down on an integrated ecosystem strategy.
More than ever, the future of Google is not just search — it's AI in every product, every interaction, and every device.
