Google hosted its annual Chromebook event, which falls around the same time as the biggest tech event of the year – Computex. This year was no exception, with the tech giant revealing its plans to integrate AI into its line of Chromebook Plus laptops just as Microsoft and other popular manufacturers announced a flood of AI-enabled laptops, including Most of them arrived during Computex 2024.
While it's certainly an exciting time, as we're about to see how far AI-powered components and tools will take us, it also feels like it's not going to happen until you add Chromebooks to the mix. If we do, we will get more than that. Then you have something really worth talking about.
What's wrong with AI PCs?
While the prospect of new technologies is always exciting, they can have some downsides. AI hardware itself, especially when needed to power both generative AI and the cloud storage it often relies on when large data centers are exhausted, is already eating away. Large amounts of water and other resources, and environmental impacts only Nvidia, Intel, appleAMD, Qualcomm, and more make more powerful AI-based CPUs and GPUs in particular.
Then there's Microsoft, whose push for AI tools in Windows 11 could be one of them. The biggest environmental disasters, as millions of users are forced to abandon millions of Windows 10 laptops that are incompatible with the new OS and its features. It is supported by a UN report Stating that e-waste is being produced faster than we can recycle, and even Microsoft itself admits. That the push for AIPC and tools is causing an increase in carbon emissions.
The final issue is both pricing and access, which almost every manufacturer and tech company shares. AI PCs are always above $1,000. Effectively pricing a large segment of buyers looking for an affordable laptop. As for accessibility features, they're either sparse and redundant (looking at you with Microsoft's AI-generated auto-captioning) or non-existent.
What is Google and its Chromebook doing with AI?
The irony of my claim that Google is doing anything right in terms of AI is that it is currently dealing with a major self-inflicted wound to its search engine. AI overview. On the other hand, the Chromebook side of the tech giant is making strides in making AI more accessible to the masses.
I saw several demonstrations of Google's new AI tools, including Help Me Read and Write, Help Me Game, Help Me Hands Free, and Help Me Create. It's surprising to see such a wide breadth of software and features covering so many aspects of the average user's experience, supporting Google's oft-repeated mantra that AI is helpful, integrated throughout the UI, and the cloud. And should be device based.
Tools like Help Me Hands Free, and Live Transcription and Live Translation are particularly impressive because they massively increase the options accessible to users. Although Help Me Hands Free is currently in beta testing, you can operate its entire UI with hand gestures and voice commands. Live transcription and live translation are also incredible tools that make videos more accessible.
Then there's pricing, which is where the Chromebook beats every other laptop. The most expensive options are still under $1,000, with specs and displays perfect for productivity work and even some gaming. Chrome OS isn't perfect but the apps available continue to grow and, combined with its growing roster of AI tools, are helping to make it even more popular.
While there is still room for growth in this regard, the reality is that Google is trying to reduce the cost of AI's immense resources by allowing both local and cloud storage.
AI needs access to cloud storage to keep its data pool fresh (although this comes with its own ethical implications leading to intellectual property theft). But if you can reduce how much access you have to the cloud — and therefore access to data centers and the resources they use — you can reduce some of the negative environmental impacts of AI. I'm not sure I'm seeing the same level of eco-friendly AI commitment from other tech giants.
Google's Chrome hardware is also relatively free from concerns about wholesale, unsupported OS upgrades that could lead to further waste.
What would I like to see in the future?
My first concern for AI continues to be its environmental impact. And for that reason, I want Google to be more proactive and aggressive about how it reduces the sheer amount of resources it uses. If there's a corporation that can figure out how to fully localize AI to ease that burden, Google has the capital and staff to make it happen. Like other tech corporations, it has an obligation to do so.
Another improvement is making Chromebooks more affordable. There are many models that maintain their affordable price, however, the most expensive models keep increasing in price. Chromebook's biggest advantage over other laptops is its retail price, but that gap seems to shrink every year. Considering that Chrome OS is still quite limited, it's unacceptable to approach the price of a Windows laptop.
That said, Google has made the most progress in making its AI technology more equitable, as it integrates multiple tools and features well into its UI. Tools that serve the user rather than check an arbitrary box on a list that is only meant to impress but not truly help. Other tech giants should follow suit if they don't want their more premium options to be left behind as Chromebooks continue to overtake them.