Google has released an early preview of sessions for its upcoming I/O 2026 developer conference, giving a strong indication of where the company is heading across its ecosystem.

The event, scheduled to begin on May 19, is expected to center heavily on artificial intelligence, alongside major updates to Android, Chrome, Firebase, and developer tools.

The conference will kick off with the highly anticipated "Google Keynote" from 10:00 am to 11:45 am PT, followed later in the day by the "Developer keynote" from 1:30 pm to 2:45 pm PT. As in previous years, these opening sessions are likely to deliver the biggest announcements, setting the direction for the rest of the event. More detailed and technical discussions will take place in subsequent sessions running through May 20.

One of the key highlights is the "What's new in Android" session, which will focus on Android 17. The update is expected to bring improvements in performance, as well as enhancements to media handling and camera capabilities. Google is also likely to showcase advancements aimed at improving experiences on larger screens and desktop-style environments. Another notable aspect is the integration of agentic automation within Android, designed to streamline everyday workflows and interactions.

Google is also emphasizing its broader vision of "Adaptive Everywhere," reflecting its efforts to extend Android across a wide range of devices, including smartphones, cars, televisions, and XR platforms. Tools such as Jetpack Compose are expected to play a central role in enabling developers to build applications that adapt seamlessly across different form factors.

Artificial intelligence continues to be a dominant theme at I/O 2026. Sessions focused on AI will explore updates across Google's model ecosystem, including multimodal capabilities, media generation, and even robotics applications. The company is also expected to highlight tools that help developers create AI agents and work with open-source models more efficiently. Updates to the Gemma open model family are also on the agenda, with a focus on enabling deployment across cloud, desktop, and mobile platforms.

On the developer side, productivity remains a priority. Sessions covering updates to Android Studio and Gemini-powered tools will demonstrate how AI is being integrated into development workflows. Firebase is also set to evolve, with Google positioning it as an "agent-native" platform that supports the development and scaling of AI-driven applications, including deeper integrations with AI Studio.