I went to Google Malaysia HQ this week

(If you're more a visual kind of person, I made this infographic showing the most exciting parts of the event)

Earlier this week, I got a message through from a friend: "This just came through. Thought you might be interested." Attached was a link to the sign up for Google's AI Digital Transformation Summit. Unsurprisingly, I was interested and jumped on the opportunity to get my eyes on some exciting new platforms and features.

The event brought together educators from around the country to share, discuss and feedback on how AI is continuing to shape how students learn.

The first presentation of the day kicked off with some unsurprising but equally striking facts:

36% of teachers haven’t ever used AI tools and don’t plan to
2% of teachers use AI tools extensively
86% of students are now using AI tools for their studies

This disparity once again confirms the increasing need for safe, ethical and impactful integration of AI tools across the curriculum. The gap between student usage and teacher adoption also raises an important question: Are educators equipped with the right knowledge and tools to guide students in using AI effectively? Without the necessary training and support, teachers risk falling behind, unable to leverage AI’s full potential to personalise learning, reduce workload, and foster critical thinking skills.

For a limited time, I’m offering free professional development sessions to a small number of schools to ensure they get real results. All I'm asking in return is that the strategies provided are implemented, you provide feedback, and if it’s valuable, you leave a positive review for me 😉 Get in touch if you're interested!

This discussion set the stage for the rest of the summit, where Google showcased its latest AI-driven tools designed to bridge this gap, offering solutions that not only enhance student learning but also empower teachers to integrate AI confidently and responsibly.

The speakers at the summit repeatedly claimed that Google is the number one platform for educational AI tools, surpassing ChatGPT in its usability through the integration of Gemini (the umbrella term used for Google's AI-based features) across their ecosystem.

So let's get into how Google are continuing to make a difference for teachers and students and see whether their mission to being 'committed to improving the lives of as many people as possible' holds true.

LearnLM - A New Era of Learning AI

LearnLM is Google's new family of models fine-tuned for learning, and grounded in educational research. It is already being used to enhance learning experiences in products like Search, YouTube and Gemini, with more features on the way. We'll get onto Gemini in a moment, but here are a couple of notable experimental tools that you can try out today:

Illuminate

Illuminate is an experimental tool that simplifies research papers into brief audio conversations. In a few minutes, it generates dialogue between two AI voices, summarising key insights from complex papers. Soon, users will also have the ability to ask follow-up questions.

Learn About

Learn About is a new experience designed to transform information into deeper understanding by combining high-quality content, learning science, and interactive chat. Simply ask a question, and it will guide you through the topic at your own pace using images, videos, webpages, and activities. You can also upload files or notes and ask follow-up questions for further clarity.

NotebookLM: Your AI Research Assistant

NotebookLM quickly summarises and helps you make notes on documents you upload. You might use it to summarise research from a range of sources or maybe even bring together and analyse information about a job you're applying for, like I did.

NotebookLM adds new features: 'Discover sources' and 'Interactive mode'.

As of this month, users can also tap the Discover button, describe the topic they're interested in, and NotebookLM will bring back a curated collection of relevant sources from the web. We also got a live demo of new features for Plus users, including collaboration tools and a Beta version of Interactive Mode for deeper engagement. This mode lets users pause the AI-generated Audio Overview at any moment to add comments or ask questions, prompting the AI presenters to respond in real-time. I love how this adds an extra level of immersion on top of the already mind-blowing Audio Overviews.

Gemini: AI-Powered Lesson Planning & Deep Research

Gemini is Google's answer to ChatGPT, an AI assistant that is quickly becoming widely embedded across the ecosystem. We were shown by Sales Lead Victor Lam how Deep Research can be used to automatically browse hundreds of websites, think through its findings and create insightful reports that you can now turn into engaging podcast-style conversations. Victor took us on a ride creating a fictional business proposal for a joint venture between Grab and Waymo to build a self-driving, ride-hailing platform. The results were incredible, and you should try it too (Gemini currently allows you to generate 10 free reports a day).

Back to the world of education now though, as we explore the power of Gems. Gemini Gems are customisable AI assistants within the Gemini platform. They allow users to create specialised AI experts for specific tasks, like brainstorming, writing, or coding. Pre-built Gems include Career Guide, Learning Coach and Writing Editor. This can be a really helpful tool for working more efficiently and personalising your experience with Gemini.

Google Vids: AI-Enhanced Video Creation

Google Vids was launched around a year ago now, but still seems to be relatively unknown. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this is a platform for generating videos based on user prompts like Runway (or perhaps even a new name for YouTube?) However, I'd say Google Vids is much more alike to Slides in its interface. It is designed to help users create informational videos for work-related purposes. The app uses Gemini technology to create video storyboards with AI assistance using simple prompts. Users can upload media, choose stock videos, images, background music, and add a voiceover with script generation using AI. I'll have to give this a proper go soon, but I'm still not convinced it can deliver much of value to me in its current form...

Enhancing Teaching with AI in Google Classroom

Gemini was integrated into Google Classroom back in October, offering built-in AI tools for teachers.

Outline a lesson plan: Generate lesson plan ideas in seconds based on what you’d like students to be able to demonstrate
Craft a compelling hook: Spark curiosity and engage your students with an exciting start for your class
Generate a quiz: Create a quiz and export to Forms based on year group, length, and the types of questions you want to include
Re-level text: Generate a new version of your text based on a specific year group or level

It's worth noting however, that these features are only available at an additional cost to schools.

AI for Accessibility: Inclusive Learning for All

A brief demo brought my attention back to Read Along, a tool I started to explore earlier in the year (and still yet to experiment with in the classroom!) This tool features a character named Dia, who reads through illustrated stories. Dia listens to children as they read aloud and helps them when they get stuck by demonstrating correct pronunciation and prompting them to re-read words they find challenging. There are hundreds of levelled stories on the platform and recommendations change as children improve.

Chrome's Live Caption feature is another beneficial tool for promoting inclusivity in the classroom. When enabled through Settings > Accessibility, automatic captions will appear when you play a video or audio file within Google Chrome. Chrome can translate captions into numerous languages, as well as change your caption font, size, and colour to suit you.

AI Training & Certification for Educators

I'll finish off by sharing a couple of opportunities that were brought to our attention during the summit, if you're curious to find out more and get hands on with the above tools and more:

Generative AI for Educators - learn how to use generative AI tools to help you save time on everyday tasks, personalize instruction, enhance lessons and activities in creative ways, and more.
Gemini Academy - an AI skilling programme designed to help teachers to use generative AI safely and elevate their creativity and productivity with Gemini.

Final Thoughts

Google’s AI Digital Transformation Summit showcased a rapidly evolving landscape where AI is shaping the future of education. From LearnLM’s innovative learning tools to NotebookLM’s advanced research capabilities and Gemini’s AI-powered lesson planning, the event highlighted Google’s commitment to enhancing teaching and learning experiences. While tools like Google Vids and AI-driven accessibility features offer new opportunities, the summit also reinforced the importance of ethical AI use, teacher training, and inclusive technology. It's now over to us to stay informed and empowered to harness AI's full potential.

I went to Google Malaysia HQ this week - here's what I learnt