The two will build consumer Gen-AI experiences for smartphone lock screens and ambient TV screens.

Consumer internet company Glance and Google Cloud have entered a strategic partnership to develop generative AI (GenAI) solutions to Glance-enabled smartphones worldwide.

Through this collaboration, Glance will leverage Google’s AI models to develop consumer-facing AI applications to enhance user experience on smartphone lock screens and ambient TV screens.

Glance currently has a customer base of over 450 million Android-based smartphones, worldwide, with an active user base of around 300 million across India, Indonesia, Japan, the United States, and other countries.

The partnership is a step towards building the next phase of Glance services, which will integrate news, sports, games, entertainment, fashion, and shopping with gen AI into the lock screen experiences.

For this, Glance will use Google Cloud’s Gemini intelligence capabilities and Imagen’s image generation capabilities via Vertex AI.

One of the applications is a GenAI-enabled commerce feature for the lock screen. This feature allows users to upload their images to their phone, which are then analysed to infer their interests and preferences.

Users can then use GenAI to generate personalised images that place them in relevant contexts and use the resulting images as lock screen wallpapers. Along with this, they can make real-time purchase decisions seamlessly from their lock screens, the firm said.

The new feature was piloted in the US with nearly 100,000 users. The pilot included partnerships with various US retailers and telecom service providers.

“Our mission at Glance is to inspire users to become the best version of themselves through discovery-led experiences on surfaces powered by AI. We aim to be the world’s largest consumer tech platform, reaching a billion screens by 2028, and our partnership with Google Cloud is key,” said Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO, InMobi & Glance.

The partnership comes as Glance prepares to launch ‘Glance AI’, which will be launched in the US first, a GenAI-powered platform designed to deliver immersive discovery experiences on both smartphone lock screens and TV ambient screens.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, added, “Generative AI technologies have the power to transform experiences for people around the world, and mobile phones are a key touchpoint. Glance can now harness Google Cloud’s cutting-edge GenAI technologies to develop groundbreaking applications across commerce, content, and more that will unlock new possibilities for customers.”

Launched in 2019, Glance provides AI-driven personalized content discovery experiences on the smartphone lock screen. It recently launched a similar service for the ambient TV screen (smart TV screen in idle mode). The Glance smart lock screen is delivered in partnership with OEMs and telcos. All functions are customisable, opt-in, and do not access user data, while maintaining user privacy. The platform relies on usage patterns to continually refine its recommendation engine and provide the best-in-