Tech company Google announced a new AI-first video communication platform Google Beam at its annual developer conference ‘Google I/O 2025’. This platform will convert 2-D videos into realistic 3-D renderings of people. Google’s annual developer conference started on May 20. This event is being held for 4 days at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. The event started at 10.30 pm Indian time. This time the entire focus is on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Top highlights of the first day of the event: 1. AI Search Engine: Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the new ‘AI Mode’ conversational chatbot interface for Google Search Engine. This feature is available to all US users. This product has come at a time when AI start-ups like ChatGPT and Perplexity are putting pressure on Google’s traditional search market. 2. 3-D video conferencing: Pichai also announced Google Beam, a “new AI-first video communications platform.” It will turn 2-D video from up to six cameras into realistic 3-D renderings of people. Google and HP will release the Google Beam product to early customers later this year. 3. Next version of AI video generation: Google announced the next version of its AI video generation model. The Veo 3 model can also generate audio, sound effects and dialogue. Veo 3 is available starting May 20. It’s available to Google AI Ultra subscribers via the Gemini app ($249.99/month). 4. Flow, an AI-powered filmmaking tool: The tool allows users to create scenes, characters and movie assets from text prompts. It’s aimed at filmmakers and is available to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra customers in the U.S. 5. Gemini AI model upgrade: Google announced updates to its Gemini 2.5 model series, which includes Gemini 2.5 Flash and Gemini 2.5 Pro. It includes improvements in performance, efficiency, and coding capabilities. An experimental enhanced reasoning mode for Gemini 2.5 Pro, Deep Think, was introduced to trusted testers via the Gemini API. It aims to improve reasoning by considering multiple answers before responding. 6. New AI subscription plans: Google AI Ultra plan has been introduced for $249.99/month. It is currently available only in the US. It will provide access to advanced tools like Veo 3, Imagine 4, Deep Research. You will also get 30TB of storage in Google Drive, Photos, and Gmail as well as YouTube Premium. The existing AI Premium plan has been renamed to Google AI Pro ($19.99/month). In this you get higher usage limit and access to Gemini Advance.
