Android’s New Generative AI Can Reply Text, Design Wallpapers

Generative AI is becoming increasingly popular now, and Google has discovered two new ways to put the technology in your hands.

First, it’s introducing Magic Compose, a new feature in Android’s default Messages app that enables you to reply to texts with automatically suggested messages “based on the content of your messages” so that they sound like you, or pull a Grammarly and make them sound more “concise” and “professional,” or even imitate a well-known style. The beta’s coming this summer.

Second, Google is including generative AI wallpaper as a Pixel-exclusive starting next month, allowing users to “answer suggested prompts to describe their ultimate creative vision” thanks to “Google’s text-to-image diffusion model.” Similar to Midjourney or Stable Diffusion, but for just one location on your phone. Let’s hope that works out well and that we can quickly download the photographs for additional use.

Also, Google claims to have a brand-new type of “cinematic wallpaper” that “uses on-device machine learning networks to transform your favourite photos into stunning 3D images” that “come to life when you unlock or tilt your device.”

All of these concepts are not entirely new, but as William Gibson famously said, “The future is already here. Simply put, it’s not dispersed equally yet. There are many options to experiment with generative AI, but many of the finest ones have moderate to heavy barriers to access, so it’s wonderful to have another in your hand.

Apparently, Android 14 will focus heavily on customisation when it launches later in the year. Additionally, users will have the option to “customize your lock screen with new shortcuts and beautifully crafted clocks” and use a monochromatic (black, white, and grey) colour scheme “across your entire phone experience.” Emoji wallpaper will also be provided.