First Look: New Google AI Summarizes & Translates Right on Your Chromebook

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Google just announced a suite of new AI features coming to a wide range of Chromebook Plus and Chromebook laptops, as well as two new ChromeOS notebooks from Lenovo and Samsung.

I attended a preview event before Google's announcement to see these new features up close and to test-drive the new Chromebook hardware. Chromebook Plus models will benefit from a range of new AI-driven features like "Help Me Read," live translation, and more, while all Chromebook machines will also get access to an additional set of enhancements.

Specifically, Google showed off new Lenovo Duet Chromebook and Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus models, and I left with a Lenovo test unit for extended hands-on time. This is what new Chromebooks will look like going into the 2024 holidays and 2025, and (surprise!) they're all about AI.

AI Features for Chromebook Plus Help You Read, Translate & More

We last visited Google to hear the latest on ChromeOS back in May, when the Chromebook Plus AI evolution first began. Some features we saw as "coming soon" additions have arrived, while others are entirely new. Google has two different groups of features—one set rolling out to all Chromebook Plus devices only, and a set coming to all Chromebooks. Let’s start with the Plus-exclusive ones.

Chromebook Plus devices will exclusively enjoy “Help Me Read,” a recorder app, live translation, and video-call enhancements. Help Me Read is the biggest single feature highlighted, and while the others are a little more self-explanatory, this is more involved.

Help Me Read is an AI-driven feature that allows you to select pages of text and call on the AI cloud service to condense and summarize the page. You can turn one or many pages into a single paragraph or less to drill down to the key takeaways. Then, you can prompt the AI with additional questions or cut it down further. This could be a more advanced form of Googling to find a specific answer to your question, or it could be used as a learning tool.

While no doubt convenient, I have reservations over this feature's impact. It’s similar in spirit to the Google AI summaries at the top of search results, which, to varying degrees, you can’t necessarily trust. Plus, it cuts out the work of the people who originally produced the text (ahem). I also can’t help but picture how young users, especially students, might read less comprehensively, tempted to cut down every source to an AI summary.

Live translation is more in line with the benefits of AI that I've hoped to see realized. This feature can translate other languages live on a voice or video call, taking another spoken language into captions in your language. We saw a short demo of this, and while the timing and precision can get a little off track at times, it’s genuinely helpful. Moreover, it works across all video call apps—it's not exclusive to Google Meet.

The recorder app is partially what it sounds like—software for recording a speaker or sounds—but it, too, is infused with machine learning. It can transcribe and summarize the audio, then split the transcript into multiple speakers when it picks up and learns the differences between or among the various voices.

I’d need to test this myself to judge its accuracy, but machine learning and microphones have been able to pick up and spell out spoken words for years pretty accurately. Finally, video call enhancements are the most self-explanatory of the OS features: The algorithm can clean up your audio and soften your image for improved quality and appearance. On all devices, the more demanding and wide-ranging features (think Help Me Read) are crunched remotely in cloud servers, while fewer and simpler tasks (video enhancements) are handled on the local hardware.

One last addition on all Chromebook Plus machines is a new Quick Insert key on the keyboard. Hitting this brings up a menu with shortcuts to insert emoji, links, the Help Me Write feature, and other useful options.

Given that the new Lenovo Duet is a Chromebook and not a Chromebook Plus model, I couldn't extend my time testing these features after the reveal event. Of course, I saw the new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus up close, but this model won't be sent out for review until a little later. The Galaxy Chromebook Plus is a 15.6-inch clamshell laptop at $699, with an OLED screen and access to the Chromebook Plus feature set.

Google also has new features for all Chromebooks, even if they’re not as flashy. These also aren’t entirely new—we saw them previewed at the previous Chromebook event—but they are still helpful. One is Recap.

When you log back into your device after some time away, the Recap feature can reopen windows and apps that it judges to be related to the same task, letting you pick up where you left off. If you always leave these windows up, it’s not so different in practice, but it can help jump-start what you were up to, silo it by task, and keep you organized.

Focus mode is perhaps overstated—it’s just a work timer with limited settings to cut off other apps or distractions—but integration with Google Tasks plus music and sound options make it practical enough for a built-in feature. Drive integration across apps makes your Google environment more streamlined, and finally, chat with Gemini (the AI assistant), previously available on some devices, now appears on the home screen of all Chromebooks.

Lenovo Chromebook Duet: A Popular Affordable Option

According to Google, Lenovo's Duet is among the best-selling Chromebook lines, and its price and form factor make it easy to see why. This is a refreshed version of the popular 2-in-1 laptop, still working with an 11-inch screen and a detachable keyboard.

At this Chromebook's $349, the core specs are where you'll find most of the compromise. The Duet runs on a MediaTek Kompanio 838 processor, with up to 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage. That will hardly set the world alight, but you don't need it to; this 2-in-1 laptop has been an exemplary device for children, education environments, and similar use cases outside of power users.

What surprises me is the screen: While only 11 inches, the 16:10 panel displays a 2K resolution and sharp picture quality. It's crisp and bright, rated at 400 nits, making its compact form more enjoyable. Considering you'll often find budget machines give themselves away with a subpar display, this screen is a pleasant surprise.

The rest of the build falls more into what you'd expect in this range, but not in a bad way. The tablet itself feels well-made, and the detachable keyboard is included in the box (unlike with, say, Microsoft's various detachable Surface devices). I'm not the biggest fan of the texture on the keyboard and cover, and it feels a bit chunky overall, but its heft makes it feel sturdier on your lap for typing. Otherwise, its small form is ideal for popping onto a tray or smaller table, underpinning the portability.

Lenovo's keyboard and kickstand (which doubles as a back cover) take a little getting used to. Every brand implements these accessories differently, so I fiddled with this one before learning how to set it up quickly. You won't find a kickstand built into the device like a Surface, but the rear cover does the job well enough, splitting diagonally to support the device when you pop it open.

The stand also includes a cutout for a stylus, but no such pen is included. Google showed off Lenovo’s USI Pen 2 with the device, but any USI stylus will do if you already own one. While somewhat disappointing that it's not included, the USI Pen 2 would jack up the price for something not everyone wants, and others will have pens already—it's an acceptable decision at this price.

The Duet has an 8-megapixel (MP) rear-facing camera and a 5MP front-facing camera for versatile use. The chassis is spill-resistant, another plus for young users (and some adults, honestly). The tablet includes two USB Type-C ports, a headphone jack, and physical camera shutter switches.

Lenovo's latest ChromeOS tablet is peppy enough for its use cases and price, but we’ll have to put it through our benchmark suite and spend more time with the machine before we make a full review judgment—check back for that soon.