New Pixel 9 leak sheds light on new Google AI features

We got our first glimpse at the base Pixel 9 via a hands-on video earlier today. Before that, a Geekbench listing shed light on its Tensor G4's lackluster performance. On the software side, the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Pixel 9 Pro XL were rumoured to get new AI-powered features, including something called "Creative Assistant". A new leak from Android Authority now sheds light on what they could be.

It will launch under the "Google AI" banner and include five features, two of which are already available on current-gen devices (Circle to Search and Gemini). Next up, there's "Add Me" that "Makes sure everyone is included in a photo". Exactly what this does is unclear, but it probably has something to do with recognizing faces. Google has torn (the wrong) page out of Microsoft's book and included a feature that involves screenshots.

Dubbed "Screenshots", it trawls through your screenshots through its AI wizardry and lets you search for stuff using the content extracted from said screenshots. Unfortunately, it isn't certain if the processing is done on-device or on the cloud. Thankfully, the feature is opt-in and can be switched off any time via a toggle. Lastly, there's "Studio", which, based on its description, can generate images/video from text prompts.

Whether or not either of the above features will trickle down to last-gen devices remain to be seen. Google still hasn't bought some Pixel 8 Pro features to older phones, so it seems unlikely, at least now. Nevertheless, we'll know for sure on August 13 when the Pixel 9 series debuts.