The Google Vs Apple Vs Facebook battle on your smartphone is about to take an exciting new twist; if you’re an Android user, you can expect a huge AI upgrade that could very well change the way you use your device.
The tech giants behind the most popular smartphone OS and app ecosystems have spent recent years battling for your messaging loyalties. And for good reason. There’s no app quite as sticky as WhatsApp or iMessage or Google Messages. It’s the center of your social network, you return to it continually through your day, every day.
Beyond the now obligatory end-to-end encrypted messaging, it gets harder to innovate Just look at WhatsApp’s patchy attempts at monetization or iMessage’s refocus as a sharing hub or Google’s need to wrest control over RCS to even compete.
Meanwhile, the AI space race continues apace. And just like everything else, the core battlefield will likely be the smartphones that run our lives.
As useful as it might be to have Microsoft’s Co-pilot or Google’s Bard stitched into our productivity apps, as engaging as ChatGPT’s apps have become, it’s not front and center in the way it needs to be to drive the next wave of adoption and monetization.
And so, just as Samsung floated the idea of a paywall to enable its own smartphone AI offerings, here comes Google with something much more game-changing. How about incorporating its LLM directly in to the messaging platform itself. An immediate UI and user base. No new apps to install or complex productivity app extensions to master. This is ChatGPT-like simplicity pre-installed on every Android smartphone.
Think through the path. Google has spent two-years pushing its Messages app as the default Android alternative to iMessage. This has included end-to-end encryption and RCS by default, and multiple feature releases. Now, with that done, here comes an AI upgrade that connects Messages users with Google, not just with one another.
There were hints that Google might be looking at bringing Bard into its Messages platform last year, but nothing substantive. Now, having unpicked the latest pre-release APK, 9to5Google reports that “Bard is coming to Google Messages to ‘help you write messages, translate languages, identify images, and explore interests’.”
By decompiling the latest Google Messages release, “we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features… Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect.”
A sticky Google Messages upgrade that suddenly delivers a shop window for the advertising ecosystem that underpins everything it does. That’s what is meant by “explore interests.” A whole new dimension in advertising driven AI search.
There are a raft of obvious tasks this could seriously simply—creating a recipe or drafting a text for your boss about your impromptu duvet day are two of the examples given. But this just scratches the surface and unmasks something much more critical.
When ChatGPT was released, you’ll remember the Google Search obituaries that came thick and fast. The future of web search was not going to be browser bases. It would be interactive and chatty. Google patchy rush to release Bard followed.
But now think of the combination of an LLM chatbot and the interface you use to manage your key relationships. Searching for holidays, gifts, cars, homes, movies and the rest takes on a whole new dimension. Because the chances are you’re messaging about all these things with someone as you search and debate your options.
This won’t happen immediately. To begin, you’ll play with AI text composition, image recognition, simple information requests—but make no mistake, AI chatbot driven search is the prize (1,2). The models need more advanced structuring to turn chat into commerce driven search requests, but the end will justify the means/investment.
While this looks like delivering on Google’s Allo intent that floundered given its inability to properly combine its assistant and messaging, with all the LLM advances brought to the fore, Google isn’t unique. Telegram has chatbot options, including ChatGPT fronts, but for most everyday users, it’s a step beyond what’s comfortable.
The really interesting question is how will Apple and WhatsApp respond. Clearly, there are elements of Siri integration with iMessage, albeit that’s limited to messaging itself. It’s not a direct comparison, but would be easily enough enabled. WhatsApp suits within Meta’s stable, and with its latest NVIDIA shopping spree, it’s clear that Meta will be able to bring ‘;;something like this to WhatsApp easily enough.
Because Google fronts the world’s largest and most valuable search and advertising ecosystem, it’s ready to go. Albeit Facebook has its own network—WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are both cross-platform and more widely adopted than Google Messages. This would bring an entirely new perspective to Meta’s monetization.
The issue, of course, is that when your LLM chatbot is driven by an advertising giant, you’re risking a limited and far from independent experience—a Google search window without the immediate option to scan beyond the advertiser results.
But the alternative is Samsung- or ChatGPT like subscription charges for AI features and services. And we know that users will sacrifice a heap of privacy for “free”. AI in messaging will enable the same business model that’s behind search and most other services. Advertisers will pay to reach you, the services will be free.
This year promises a sea change in the messaging landscape, with iMessage’s long-awaited RCS adoption, at least in some form of parallel running setup and WhatsApp’s taking advantage of the lack of cross-platform, end-to-end encryption. In all likelihood, though, the inclusion of LLM chatbots into core messengers promises an even greater change and the next step in widening messaging functionality.
A word of warning, though. Google Messages chats with Bard are not secured by end-to-end encryption, and Google (being Google) will store your data and use it to improve its algorithms. Just as with other such models, be careful what you ask.
No news yet on timing, but in all likelihood it isn’t far away. According to Bard itself, “Google has not yet announced an official release date for Bard in Google Messages, but it is expected to be available sometime in 2024.”
Watch this space.
