Google Pixel 2024 Super Bowl Ad: Making A Difference For The Visually Impaired With AI

Super Bowl LVII is here, and with it comes all of the usual related non-football festivities, including a slew of commercials made specifically for airing during the biggest TV event of the year. Many different tech companies have purchased the most expensive commercial time of the year, and Google released one on YouTube over a week in advance of the big game. The spot deals with the accessibility features that the Pixel 8 flagship smartphone offers, particularly for users with visual impairments.

"For many people with blindness or low vision, there hasn't always been an easy way to capture daily life," begins the spot's narration, which is also shown in an on-screen graphic. We're then shown a first-person/POV perspective of the ad's protagonist, Javier, taking a selfie with help from audio cues because his vision is blurred beyond recognition. The same goes for other selfies that he takes with friends, family members, and his dog at various memorable moments of his adult life, climaxing with him and his wife holding their baby for the first time in the hospital.

"Capture life, no matter how you experience" closes the ad as a tagline, stressing that the Guided Frame with Google AI feature is only on the Pixel line. It's a heck of an endorsement for users who need those kinds of accessibility features on their smartphones, computers, and other smart devices to make the most out of them.

Though Apple has long been considered a leader in accessibility features in the computing space, its Android competitors have been gaining ground in recent years, Google included. Even before the 2024 Super Bowl commercial, Google was heavily touting the Pixel 8 series's accessibility features, with a whole page devoted to that aspect of the phone on its Google Store listing.

"When I started working full-time on accessibility more than nine years ago, we had a very small number of highly passionate Googlers driving accessibility from the ground up," said Google's Laura Allen, its head of strategy and programs for accessibility and disability inclusion, in the accessibility testimonials. "We were constantly pushing uphill and making the case for why this work was important and needed more attention. Today, we're in a drastically different place. [...] There's been a big shift from 'why' to 'how,' which is so exciting and encouraging."

In our own SlashGear review of the Pixel 8, we gave it a nine out of 10 rating and an Editor's Choice seal of approval. The newly added AI features were strongly praised, including the improved call screening process that lets you converse with whoever's calling without actually picking up the call. "It's a bit like having a little secretary living on your phone," wrote our own Andy Zahn, who also praised the AI's dictation, call screening, and background noise reduction features.