How to Watch Google I/O 2026 and What to Expect

Google I/O 2026 will take place next week, on May 19, when the tech giant will share its latest advancements in artificial intelligence, products and, hopefully, some hardware. 

Earlier this week, Google took the wraps off the latest version of Android, and announced a new laptop platform, Googlebooks, which uses a new operating system that’s a merged version of Android and ChromeOS. 

Google’s mission to fuse AI into all of its products will undoubtedly continue, and we’ll likely get details on the latest from Gemini, more agentic AI efforts, Android XR glasses and more. We saw some of the fruit of the tech giant’s latest efforts during the Android Show, with Google showing an “intelligence system” that performs tasks on your behalf. 

How to watch Google I/O 

The Google I/O keynote will be live-streamed via YouTube on Tuesday, May 19, at 10 a.m. PT. 

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and his leadership teams will take the stage and unveil a slew of AI advancements and product updates for developers, but there’s always been some wiggle room for consumer-focused announcements. 

You can catch the stream below when it goes live. 

Android 17

Android is Google’s playground for showcasing the best of its AI features, though some may be exclusive to the new Pixel phones we expect later this year. Google detailed all of the features coming to the next version of the operating system during the Android Show this week, and the latest and greatest have yet to make it to the existing beta builds available today.

Google released the first beta version of Android 17, its phone operating system, back in February, and three additional betas have been released since, with the latest in mid-April. We can expect the latest version of the OS to be released in its final form sometime in June or July, shortly before we expect the next family of Pixel devices to be announced. For the past few years, new Pixel lineups have been announced in August during the Made by Google event.

So far, there are no blockbuster features in the Android 17 beta, but Google has introduced interesting tweaks throughout. One of the most interesting features so far is app bubbles, which let you quickly open any app in a floating window and dismiss it to a bubble on your screen.

Although we know most of what’s to come in the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, there’s still a good chance that we’ll hear more during the I/O keynote. 

More AI features

We expect Google to announce several new artificial intelligence features that integrate further into its products. Now that agentic AI is all the rage, we’ll most likely see Google lean even further in this direction. This type of AI can perform tasks on your behalf, like controlling your computer, with minimal oversight. We’ll have to wait and see what and how many AI features Google announces this time. 

Let’s also not exclude updates to existing or new products that Google could announce. Veo, Lyria, Beam and countless others could get some spotlight at this year’s conference. 

Veo and Lyria are Google’s AI-generated video and music tools, respectively, and have continued to improve since they were originally announced. Beam is an ambitious and futuristic way of video conferencing that uses several cameras to make you appear as though you’re speaking directly to the person in front of you as a 3D model. 

Gemini 4.0

Among all the AI announcements, we’re expecting Google to spend a significant amount of time talking about its flagship AI model for Gemini. Whether it gets a solid 4.0 status or something like a 3.8, we know the new version of Gemini will likely be one of the biggest announcements of Google I/O 2026. 

Exactly what Google has been working on with Gemini is anyone’s guess. It’s easy enough to assume that the latest model will be smarter and faster than previous models, but Gemini itself is in nearly every Google product these days, so how the latest and greatest AI from Google trickles down will be interesting to see. 

Google recently released a new notebook feature for Gemini that will let you store sources for a particular topic in one place for easy access. Notebooks are self-contained databases full of sources on a particular topic that you can continue to add to. Gemini will use a notebook for context, so you don’t have to start all over again with information sources.

Those notebooks also sync directly with Google’s AI research assistant NotebookLM, allowing you to create a host of different outputs, like video overviews, charts and more. One of the main differentiators between NotebookLM and Gemini is that NotebookLM will only use your notebook as the source of truth, whereas Gemini will scour the internet with the notebook’s context for the search. 

Gemini can also now create dynamic and interactive simulations directly in your chats when you ask it to “show you” or “visualize” something. 

Google hasn’t slowed its rollout of Gemini features, so a lot more are likely on their way with the latest version of the AI model. 

Android XR Glasses

Google showed off its Android XR glasses at last year’s I/O, along with a few partnerships it formed to create them, so we’ll likely see the smart glasses become more of a product than a concept this year. 

Smart glasses are gaining popularity, and Google took a while getting back into the space after its first swing in the sector. Google Glass was way ahead of its time, but from the demos we’ve seen of Android XR, that patience may have paid off. 

Google’s first set of “smart glasses” back in 2013 was an obvious pair of spectacles with a protruding lens that the wearer could view information on, and even take photos and record video. The product was met with immediate and significant pushback as an invasion of privacy, as well as being elitist and rude. Wearers were called “Glassholes.”

Much has changed since the introduction of Google Glass, and Android XR glasses won’t look nearly as obvious when released, which could make them even creepier, but at least they’ll come with a load of usable features like heads-up notifications, live translation and Gemini Live. They’re also launching into an established market now, with smart glasses competitors from Meta’s collaborations with Ray-Ban, Oakley and more. Samsung’s own Galaxy XR headset runs on the Android XR platform and is already available to purchase. This first piece of hardware running on the platform paves the way for more hardware, with smart glasses being a natural next step. 

While Google didn’t go into details on its smart glasses during the Android Show this week, Google I/O could bring us more demos, final hardware details and a release date for when you’ll be able to get Android XR glasses in your hands. Given that there are multiple partners in the ring, the price ranges could vary, potentially offering both entry-level and high-end offerings. 

AluminumOS: Googlebooks

While Google has officially introduced the Googlebook, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the underlying operating system that’s been talked about for some time now. The new operating system merges Android and ChromeOS and looks to be the future Google sees in personal computing. 

Merging both of Google’s operating systems will likely bring a more seamless software experience between how AluminumOS computers and Android phones interact. 

During the Android show, Google showed that you can run all of your phone’s Android apps directly on a Googlebook natively, without touching your phone at all. It also detailed a new Magic Pointer feature that’s both AI-powered and contextually aware of the content you’re viewing, allowing you to do some cool tricks, like edit photos with a single prompt.