The multinational presents its latest developments, which will be available first to users of the most advanced and expensive subscriptions. Microsoft joins the race for agents

RAÚL LIMÓN 20 MAY 2025 - 14:51 ART El Pais, Spain

Google is moving forward with its vision of bringing artificial intelligence (AI) mode to all aspects of work and everyday life. During its developer conference ( Google I/O 2025 ), which kicked off this Tuesday in Mountain View, California, it presented the company's current and upcoming advancements, which essentially involve extending its achievements to all applications, but with greater precision, speed, and ease of use. Demis Hassabis, researcher and general manager of Google DeepMind, summarizes the concept, which he calls "universal AI": "That it's useful in your everyday life, that it's intelligent, understands the context you're in, and can plan and act on your behalf on any device—this is our ultimate goal for Gemini [la IA de Google] ." The main advancements will initially be available for the most expensive subscription (Ultra) at a cost of $249.99 per month (€221.75). Microsoft has also introduced advances in the same line of agents capable of reasoning and executing complete and complex tasks for the user.

Sundar Pichai, Google 's CEO, boasts that one of the achievements this year is the effective inclusion of its artificial intelligence in the search engine, the most used in the world. Added to this are personalization, the ability to develop code, advances in audiovisual content generation, and lower latency in obtaining results. The executive emphasizes that these capabilities come at a cost, but argues that subscription fees for the models "are dropping significantly." "There is a difficult balance between price and performance, however, time and again we have been able to offer the best models at the most cost-effective price," he argues.

“Reinvention” of search . Pichai has teased the launch of an AI mode that will be incorporated into the search engine to address the exponential growth in search usage. “It’s completely new, a total reinvention of search with more advanced reasoning, with answers to longer and more complex queries [hasta cinco veces la duración de las búsquedas tradicionales] and that can go further with follow-up questions.” This new tab launched this Tuesday in the United States before expanding to the rest of the world.

Audiovisual Advances . In the video space, Google is incorporating Project Starline, a technology for recreating images that simulate three dimensions. “The goal is to create the sensation of being in the same room as someone,” explains Pichai. In this regard, Google Beam was introduced, a tool that transforms two-dimensional video transmissions “into a realistic 3D experience” thanks to six cameras that capture and merge different angles in real time. It can be used for video calls, but the first devices with this technology won't be available until the end of the year. Google also introduced an improved version of Flash and Astra, the AI tools that allow Gemini Live to interact with the device while it sees, memorizes, and analyzes the environment in which the interaction takes place. They are the basis for the future Android XR glasses, an augmented reality device for accessing the agent with the device integrated into the person. Similarly, the new version of VEO, the audiovisual creation platform with AI, “combines video with audio for the first time,” explained Hassabis.

Translator . The Starlight feature will be added to Google Meet, allowing simultaneous translation of video calls (at first only available in Spanish and English). The machine adapts to the tone of the interlocutors and recreates their expressions. It will also be available to subscribers later this year.

Agents. The evolution of chatbots into agents (tools capable of acting on behalf of the interlocutor) is based on Project Mariner, an agent that, in addition to planning, can execute different tasks simultaneously and learn from the actions it takes to be proactive and anticipate user requests. It will be available starting this summer. "We're starting to incorporate agent capabilities into Chrome search, and the Gemini app will feature a new agent mode," Pichai announced.

Work and study tools . Gemini's advancements, with customization capabilities (adaptation to user characteristics), will also be incorporated, starting this summer, into common work tools such as Gmail, Docs, and Keep. Improvements will also be implemented for students, who will be able to use AI not only for specific queries, but also, as Hassabis explains, for "exam preparation, understanding materials, taking pre-tests, and watching videos."

Shopping . Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president of shopping, points out one of Google's new shopping-oriented features, which aims to enable AI to perform the entire task, from "inspiration" to payment and ordering. AI will not only show options, for example, of clothing, but can, based on a personal photo, show how it looks on the user and complete the process or put it on hold until it finds something at the price they want to pay.

Microsoft and X

Google's path is the same as that taken by the company founded 50 years ago by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. During Microsoft Build , the company's annual event for developers, Satya Nadella, CEO of the multinational, announced the "open agentic network," a concept similar to Google's that allows AI agents to interact, decide, and act on behalf of individuals, teams, and organizations.

Microsoft has unveiled updates to its development environment to facilitate the creation of more capable and secure AI agents, advance scientific research, and promote open standards and shared infrastructure and protocols.

In this regard, the company has introduced GitHub Copilot, a programming agent; Windows AI Foundry and Foundry Local, a unified platform for the complete and custom development of artificial intelligence, from the training phase to inference (the ability to reason in new contexts); and Azure AI Foundry Models, among other new tools for model evaluation.

Microsoft has also announced that it has incorporated the Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini models from xAI, the company led by Elon Musk, into its ecosystem. Musk participated in the meeting via video and acknowledged previous errors that, he said, were quickly corrected thanks to the collaboration of developers.

Grok has issued responses to the “white genocide” on the American tycoon's social network X, even though the question had no relation to South Africa. This is the case of Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland in the United States, who received the following response from Musk's AI, which is of South African origin: “The claim of white genocide is highly controversial. Some argue that white farmers face targeted violence, pointing to farm attacks and rhetoric like the song 'Kill the Boer', which they consider incitement.”

Red Hat

Red Hat, a global provider of open source solutions, has also unveiled Enterprise Linux 10 after half a year in beta . This platform is designed to respond to the dynamic demands of hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence. “More than just an update, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 provides a strategic and intelligent backbone for managing increasing complexity, accelerating innovation, and building a more secure computing foundation for the future,” the company said.

Red Hat credits its platform with the ability to integrate AI workloads with an operating system it describes as “intelligent, resilient, and durable,” as well as “flexible and agile.”

“The integration of generative AI directly into the platform helps provide contextualized guidance and actionable recommendations through a natural language interface,” according to the company, which asserts that this feature makes management easier for “both novice and experienced professionals.”