Inside Cosmo AI Assistant App

Yesterday, Google published “COSMO,” an “experimental AI assistant application for Android devices” on the Play Store. Cosmo AI Assistant App has emerged this Saturday as one of the stories drawing attention in India.

Key facts

• Yesterday, Google published “COSMO,” an “experimental AI assistant application for Android devices” on the Play Store.
• The new app, arriving with the package name com.google.research.air.cosmo, is described by Google as “an experimental AI assistant application for Android devices” (via 9to5Google).
• What is Google COSMO, the "experimental AI assistant," and how does it differ from what's already possible with Gemini?
• Interacting with COSMO’s assistant works as expected, but it’s understandably quite a bit rougher around the edges than the full Gemini app.
• Google released and then pulled an artificial intelligence app called COSMO this week, likely pulling the trigger a tad early ahead of Google I/O later this month.

What we know

Going deeper, the new app, arriving with the package name com.google.research.air.cosmo, is described by Google as “an experimental AI assistant application for Android devices” (via 9to5Google).

On the substance, what is Google COSMO, the "experimental AI assistant," and how does it differ from what's already possible with Gemini?

Beyond the headlines, Interacting with COSMO’s assistant works as expected, but it’s understandably quite a bit rougher around the edges than the full Gemini app.

More precisely, Google released and then pulled an artificial intelligence app called COSMO this week, likely pulling the trigger a tad early ahead of Google I/O later this month.

It is worth noting that this application looks to come from Google Research — com.google.research.air.cosmo — but was published on the company’s main Play Store account.

By the numbers

At this stage, the app is a 1.13 GB download given the inclusion of a local Gemini Nano model.

On a related note, Update, May 1, 2026 (2:31 PM ET): Well, we may have been closer to the mark than we realized with that “not quite ready for prime time” observation, because Google just pulled COSMO’s Play Store listing.

Going deeper, this feels like a premature, or accidental, release before Google I/O 2026 later this month.

On the substance, Original article, May 1, 2026 (1:44 PM ET): Google isn’t exactly shy about giving us access to its latest AI experiments.

The wider context

On a related note, Google just published a mysterious new ‘COSMO’ app to the Play Store.

Going deeper, this week, though, we’re getting something a little bit different, as Google introduces a new Android app to the Play Store: COSMO.

On the substance, That… doesn’t really do much to differentiate it from Google’s main Gemini app — so what exactly is the point of COSMO?

Beyond the headlines, Looking through app settings, COSMO reveals it can function with a local Gemini Nano model, a remote “PI” server, or a hybrid mode that switches between the two as available.

More precisely, COSMO is built to tap into Android’s AccessibilityService API to access your screen, but in our testing this doesn’t appear to be fully working just yet.

The bottom line

• The new app, arriving with the package name com.google.research.air.cosmo, is described by Google as “an experimental AI assistant application for Android devices” (via 9to5Google).
• What is Google COSMO, the "experimental AI assistant," and how does it differ from what's already possible with Gemini?
• This application looks to come from Google Research — com.google.research.air.cosmo — but was published on the company’s main Play Store account.