Back in May,Google I/O 2023demonstrated the company’s growing interest and investment in generative AI projects. With the launch of a new Google Labs hub, an email reply generator called Help Me Write, and improvements to Bard, Google continues to explore the potential of AI. Now, it might be developing a generative AI tool for ChromeOS that could rewrite text in a particular style.
Google has been working on a Chrome OS project that incorporates at least five codenames to date, including Mako. Manta, and Orca, according to information uncovered by9to5Google. Whilepublicly accessible codedoes not confirm whether generative AI is being used, the mention of “Copy Suggestions” has led to speculation that this may be the case. In this context, “Copy” could refer to the actual verbiage created by a human, which may then be reprocessed by AI.
Orca, as it has been codenamed, could appear as an option in the right-click menu in ChromeOS while working within a body of text. Upon clicking, the Mako bubble would pop up on the screen, giving users three different options. By selecting “Request rewrites,” users might be able to prompt the AI tool to regenerate a new version of their text. “Preset text queries” could allow users to ask for text to be regenerated by the AI in a particular style. Through Mako, it would be possible to insert the AI-generated text where the user was last typing.
Rather than being locally hosted, the AI behind these new assistant tools may live on Google servers. Manta would send the prewritten text to the servers, and then send back the AI-refined content. Because the assistant tools would be developed for ChromeOS, all devices running the operating system would likely support the features. However, this latest analysis and speculation is based on text strings present in Chromium code under development. Google has yet to publicly share its specific plans.
If they were to debut, the earliest they would be seen is October, which is when ChromeOS version 118 is slated to roll out. It is also possible that they might be exclusive to theChromebook X. These products will have minimum spec requirements as well, meaning older Chromebook models could be incapable of running the writing assistant tools.
