Google pulls AI Test Kitchen from Play Store and App Store

Public interest in AI may still be budding, but in the shadows, companies such as Google have been tirelessly developing innovative AI solutions. The technology giant offered users a rare glimpse of AI advancements through a platform dubbed the AI Test Kitchen.

In an unexpected move, Google has withdrawn its AI Test Kitchen app from the Play Store and the App Store just a year after its launch. The tech giant has decided to focus exclusively on refining the web experience, streamlining work into one platform for smoother updates. First noted by 9to5Google, the company confirmed the course change, solidifying its directional shift towards the web.

Google introduced the AI Test Kitchen to the public in 2022, following its I/O developer conference. Here, the tech giant revealed the second-generation LaMDA (Large Model Dialogue Applications) large language model (LLM), a technology that became a fundamental component of the powerful Bard AI. The Test Kitchen was rolled out with three applications designed to enable users to explore the LLM’s capabilities within a controlled environment.

These applications included “Imagine It,” where LaMDA attempted to articulate an imaginary place based on user-created nicknames; “List It,” where the LLM parsed a to-do list into manageable subtasks; and “Talk About It,” where users would engage in a conversation with the AI about dogs.However, after the I/O conference this year, Google unveiled new experiments with MusicLM and consequentially suspended the AI Test Kitchen app, as noticed by 9to5Google. The reasons behind the suspension were puzzling, considering the app’s relative novelty and AI’s ascending popularity.

Hints of this surprising suspension could be retraced to I/O this year when Google advised users to experience MusicLM through the website, thereby discreetly diverting them from the Test Kitchen app.

The sudden decision has left many puzzled as Google brushes Test Kitchen off its app portfolio. The AI Test Kitchen app joins a lengthening list of software that has met an abrupt end after a promising start at Google.

Via Tech Crunch