This new Gboard feature will make you uninstall Grammarly
What's the story
Google's latest upgrade to the Gboard app for the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro will make you promptly uninstall Grammarly. The new feature enables the detection and correction of grammatical errors besides spelling errors. The feature supports the English language for now but support for other languages could be added in the future, according to Google. Here are more details.
Convenience
Gboard's new feature will make grammatical corrections easier, swifter
In a blog post about the update, Google said the new Gboard feature will come into effect once you have typed in more than three words. The search giant explained that it can be tedious and time-consuming to correct mistakes on the small smartphone displays with limited controls. So, if you make a grammatical mistake, the new feature will underline the same for correction.
Backbone
Google's AI-powered correction model operates using just 20MB of storage
The feature is exclusive to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro models. You can touch the mistake or drag your cursor to it and select one of the recommended corrections or type out your own. The feature is enabled by Google's Artificial Intelligence (AI) model. It addressed memory constraints using a unique AI model that performs grammatical corrections with just 20MB of storage.
Refined technique
Google's on-device correction model gives better results than cloud-based models
In its blog post, the search giant also detailed that it had trained the AI model using incorrect grammar samples alongside their corresponding corrected forms. It used a technique called hard distillation to generate training data that would yield better results than using a cloud-based model while being better suited for on-device use sans an internet connection.
Coming soon?
AI model could become available to other Android devices soon
Google hasn't disclosed when the new Gboard feature would be made available to other Android devices. With the AI model optimized for low resource usage, we believe the feature will eventually make its way to other devices once hype for the Pixel 6 dies down. That said, it would certainly help reduce the dependency on third-party tools such as Grammarly to avoid costly mistakes.