Google is Bringing Key Parts of the Android Stack to ChromeOS to Speed AI Additions

Google announced today that it will bring key parts of the Android software stack to ChromeOS to speed the introduction of AI features to the desktop platform.

“With our recent announcements around new features powered by Google AI and Gemini, Chromebooks now give us the opportunity to put powerful tools in the hands of more people to help with everyday tasks,” Google’s Prajakta Gudadhe and Alexander Kuscher writes in a new post to the ChromeOS Dev blog. “To continue rolling out new Google AI features to users at a faster and even larger scale, we’ll be embracing portions of the Android stack, like the Android Linux kernel and Android frameworks, as part of the foundation of ChromeOS.”

According to Google, the two platforms were already moving closer together thanks to the addition of Android app support in ChromeOS years ago and, much more recently, the implementation of Android’s Bluetooth stack in ChromeOS 122.

That latter update hints at the challenges Google is trying to address with ChromeOS: This platform, like the Linux foundation on which it is built, is still relatively unknown to the makers of peripherals, and so switching to the Android Bluetooth stack will open up Chromebooks to many millions of new accessories. (And for you Linux fans, Google says it will open source this work so that Linux distributions can take better advantage of Bluetooth devices as well.)

Generally speaking, the benefits of combining ChromeOS and Android are obvious, and I’m surprised that Google hasn’t moved in this direction before now. This change will help the company accelerate the introduction of new AI capabilities into both platforms by simplifying engineering, but it will also help devices like phones and accessories work better with Chromebooks. And Google pledges to continue delivering “the unmatched security, consistent look and feel, and extensive management capabilities that ChromeOS users, enterprises, and schools love.”

That said, this change won’t happen overnight. Google says that the improvements it’s making to the combined tech stack won’t be available to consumers and organizations “for quite some time.” When the time comes, it expects the transition to be seamless. And meanwhile, it will continue with its normal software updating schedule.

“Chromebooks will continue to deliver a great experience for our millions of customers, users, developers and partners worldwide,” they conclude. “We’ve never been more excited about the future of ChromeOS.”