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Summary
- Google has launched a new iOS-exclusive feature called “Simplify” within the Google app, which utilizes its Gemini AI model to explain complex text and technical jargon in a simpler, “explain like I’m five” manner. This differs from the summarization capabilities already present on Android.
- The Simplify feature, likely accessible via a text selection menu in the Google iOS app, employs a “prompt refinement” approach developed by Google Research to ensure clarity without losing key details, accuracy, or nuance.
- The Simplify tool uses Gemini’s prompt refinement approach to enhance clarity and improve comprehension by explaining complex topics.
Google’s Gemini does a good enough job of summarizing content that you find on the web, with users being able to task the AI agent with explaining technical text in simpler terms.
On Android, this normally works by selecting a block of text online (browsed through the Google app or Chrome), and then tapping the ‘Ask Gemini’ button. Similar results can also be achieved by invoking Gemini on the webpage and then asking Gemini about the screen.
Related
Google is now unlocking similar functionality on iOS, but instead of simple summarization, it wants to help users ‘Simplify’ complex text and technical jargon.
Going live now, the feature is literally called Simplify, and it is only accessible via the Google app on iOS (at least for now). I don’t have access to the new tool yet, but Google explains that it uses Gemini to explain difficult-to-understand concepts in an easy-to-understand way — essentially providing an ‘explain like I’m five’ level of clarity.
Translate jargon to plain English
Google didn’t mention, but the Simplify tool might show up in the More actions section that pops up when you select a block of text on the Google app on iOS, as seen in the screenshot above.
To power the Simplify feature, Google is using a novel “prompt refinement” approach developed by Google Research that runs text through Gemini in a way that prevents the loss of key details, accuracy, and nuance that might be important to understanding a complex topic. The tech giant ran a study with a cohort of 4,563 participants to test Simplify on a wide range of complex topics, including medical research, biology, law, finance, literature, philosophy, aerospace, and computer science.
Source: Google
The study found that Simplify resulted in significant improvements in how well participants understood complex information. As seen in the example above, “the simplification enhances clarity by defining jargon (like ’emphysema’ and ‘fibrosis’), breaking down a dense sentence, and clarifying complex relationships,” which resulted in a notable 38 percent increase (for the text above) in accuracy in regard to comprehension.
Whether Simpify eventually lands on the Google app for Android remains to be seen.
