Google I/O 2022 online event set for May 11-12 with a limited in-person audience

Google I/O, the tech giant’s annual developer’s conference, will return this year as a limited in-person event at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, from May 11-12. Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted on Wednesday.

The conference will be held online, with most of it being live-streamed in front of a limited live theatre audience.

According to reports, the offline event will primarily be for Googlers and some partners.

As per the company’s FAQ page, Google I/O registrations are also free for the event, and will open up later this month.

In 2020, Google canceled the show altogether out of concern over the then still-new COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, it joined the rest of the tech world in going digital.

Last year's event saw the search engine giant making several announcements — from showing off the Android 12 operating system to revealing its goals for going green and its quantum computing ambitions, among others.

Google said it is building a new centre in Santa Barbara, California called Google Quantum AI campus.

As for its sustainability plans, the company plans to go for 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. Google announced its tie-up with clean-energy startup Fervo to develop a geothermal power project, which is expected to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

The geothermal project will begin adding carbon-free energy to the electric grid that serves its data centers and infrastructure throughout Nevada, including its Cloud region in Las Vegas, the company had said.