The Android Show I/O Edition: Google Showcases Gemini Intelligence on Android With New AI-Backed Widget Creation Tool

Google is bringing Gemini Intelligence to Android, its new suite of AI-powered tools for its operating system, the Mountain View-based tech giant announced during the Android Show I/O Edition event. The company hosted the event as part of Google I/O, which is scheduled to take place from May 19 to May 20. Slated to roll out to select Android devices soon, Gemini Intelligence will expand Google's multistep task automation feature beyond the Samsung Galaxy S26 series and Pixel 10 lineup. Moreover, the company has announced that it is also integrating Gemini into Chrome on Android, similar to the browser's desktop version.

Gemini Intelligence Will Expand Google's Task Automation to More Android Phones

On Tuesday, the company hosted the Android Show I/O Edition as a pre-event to its upcoming Google I/O developer conference. During the event, the company announced that it is bringing Gemini Intelligence, its latest suite of AI-powered features, to Android handsets soon. The rollout of Gemini Intelligence will also expand the availability of the multistep task automation functionality for apps to more Android devices, after it was released for the Samsung Galaxy S26 series and the Google Pixel 10 lineup in March.

With Gemini-powered task automation, Android users will soon be able to assign tasks to their handsets. For example, Gemini Intelligence will be able to book a front-row bike for the user's spin class, find their class syllabus in Gmail, and add relevant books to their shopping cart online.

On top of this, Gemini Intelligence will be able to retrieve context from the screen of a user's Android handset and images on the phone, rather than asking to manually provide input. For reference, with the new AI features, Android users will be able to use the grocery list in their phone's Notes app and add the items to their shopping cart. Additionally, users will be able to ask Gemini to plan a tour for them by simply clicking a picture of the location.

Google has announced that it is bringing Gemini to the Chrome browser on Android. This comes months after the company began rolling out Gemini-powered agentic capabilities in Chrome's desktop app in September last year. With the integration, Gemini AI will be able to summarise webpages, compare the contents of websites, and help users research topics on their Android phone.

Another highlight from the event was that Google will soon let users create AI-generated widgets on their Android handsets with Gemini Intelligence. Users will be able to provide descriptions of widgets they want to generate in natural language. Once created, the functionality will let users resize the new widget on their home screens. For example, users can ask the Create My Widget tool to “suggest three high-protein meal prep recipes every week”, and it will build a widget that will specifically provide high-protein recipes. It is similar to Nothing's Essential Apps Builder, which is currently being tested in beta.

On top of this, Android phones will soon be able to use Gemini's Personal Intelligence to retrieve information from various connected apps to autofill forms for users. However, users will be able to toggle this connection on or off from the Settings menu. Lastly, the company has introduced Rambler for Android, a new Gemini Intelligence-powered tool, which will be able to refine text converted from speech for users, by correcting words and removing unnecessary phrases like "um," "ah", and "like”.

Coming to security and privacy, Google revealed that it will offer granular controls to Android users by providing an explicit choice to them to enable or disable all the new Gemini Intelligence features or some specific tools. Later this year, Android users will be able to toggle Gemini app automation for specific apps in the Settings menu. Gemini will only be able to access specific apps for which a user has granted permission.