Google I/O 2026 was about how we make AI useful for everyone in new ways. But we didn't just make announcements about our AI innovations at I/O — we used those tools to bring I/O to life, too.
It's a strange and exciting time to build anything. We're living through incredible change where AI tools are getting better each month, rewriting the rules of what we can create.
This year, we challenged ourselves to use the same AI we've been putting on stage to innovate, innovate and fail.
We've moved faster than ever and simulated in real time — combining human creativity and experimental technology — with no better example than the “Timmy TPU” movie.
But the reward is showing how these tools open up creativity and outsource routine tasks, giving the team the best hours to return to parts that are uniquely suited to doing them. When done right, the event is amazing in itself, and, as a viewer, you stop to think about how the AI was used. That change is an opportunity we want to share, because people keep asking, “What exactly can you do with AI?”
Read on to learn what AI tools we used — and how we leveraged them — to help make I/O 2026 happen.
