Google has removed its AI Test Kitchen app from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The company wants to focus on the web platform exclusively. The app was introduced last year to allow users to network with projects backed by various AI models like LaMDA 2.
Experiments
The first set of experiments comprised the model breaking down a to-do list into multiple tasks. Then people could ask LaMDA to describe an imaginary place. Users could also talk to the AI about dogs. These experiments allowed people to reconnoiter the capability of the LaMDA language model in limited settings.
Confirmation
Google confirmed 9to5Google about the move. They noticed it first when the app pulled out. Google said that they will just focus on the web experience since it is easier to push updates when there is only one platform.
AI Test Kitchen ‘Season 2’
Googled announced ‘Season 2’ of the AI Test Kitchen in November 2022 but it was not rolled out. At the moment, the Test Kitchen hosts a text-to-music language model experiment known as MusicLM. It was announced at Google IO earlier this year.
Reason
It is not surprising on Google’s part since the company is known for pulling down apps and experiments without prior intimating. Moreover, considering the increase of LLMs (large language modes) and generative AI-powered tools like Anthropic’s Claude and Open AI’s ChatGPT, Google probably wants to focus on testing features.
During Google IO in May 2023, a new portal named Google Labs was announced. It allows people to register for generative AI-based experiments. This platform lists the MusicLM experiment as well.
Suggested read: Google’s AI Tool Could Write News Stories- Are Journalists’ Jobs at Stake?
Google is notorious for making things confusing by introducing several products for AI experiments. Presently, there is an AI Test Kitchen page with an experiment. Google Labs page on the other hand displays different projects such as NotebookLM, Search Labs, and MusicLM project. NotebookLM is Google’s AI-backed note-taking project.