Google’s May 2026 was packed with AI news, capped by Google I/O 2026, where the company says it officially entered the agentic Gemini era - launching the Gemini 3.5 model family and Gemini Omni, plus a wave of hardware, health, Search, and shopping products built for AI.
The Agentic Gemini Era
At I/O 2026, Google unveiled Gemini 3.5, its latest family of models combining frontier intelligence with action-taking capabilities - built to reliably execute complex, multi-step agentic workflows across apps. Alongside it came Gemini Omni, a model that creates anything from any input, starting with video: it combines images, audio, video, and text to generate high-quality videos grounded in Gemini’s real-world knowledge. Both anchor a shift from answering questions to performing tasks.
Search and Shopping Upgrades
Google also introduced a new era for Search. Information agents in Search now work in the background 24/7, monitoring on your behalf and sending detailed updates with links to dig deeper and take action. Antigravity and the agentic coding capabilities of Gemini 3.5 Flash are coming straight into Search, so it can build generative UI, dashboards, and mini apps for ongoing tasks - alongside a new intelligent Search box, its biggest upgrade in over 25 years. For shopping, Universal Cart works across merchants and services, letting you add to a cart while browsing Search, chatting with Gemini, watching YouTube, or reading Gmail. Android Halo meanwhile gives a dedicated space to manage your agents.
Health and New Hardware
Google broadened its wellness tools with the all-new Google Health app and Fitbit Air, its smallest tracker yet - a pebble-sized proactive wellness partner with 24/7 heart rate, Afib alerts, SpO2, and sleep tracking. On laptops, Googlebook brings a Gemini-first experience with the Magic Pointer, custom widgets, and cross-device Android features, made by partners including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Android also gained Gemini Intelligence for context-aware phones, next-gen Android in cars, and intelligent eyewear previews.
Science and Transparency
On the science side, Google unveiled Gemini for Science tools, shared AlphaEvolve’s real-world impact in supply chains and chip design, launched the DeepMind Accelerator program in Asia Pacific, and started REPLIQA - a $10 million initiative with five universities applying quantum computing and AI to life sciences. The company also expanded AI content transparency tools across Search, Gemini, Chrome, Pixel, and Cloud. May 2026 was, in short, about making AI more proactive, helpful, and integrated into everyday life.