Starting 2024 Strong With Flutter and Dart
Article Summary
Brandon Badger joins Flutter as Product Director and immediately drops two major releases: Flutter 3.19, Dart 3.3, and a new Google AI Dart SDK that brings Gemini directly into your mobile apps.
Google's Flutter team kicks off 2024 with quarterly SDK updates focused on performance refinements and a significant AI integration push. The releases include the new google_generative_ai package, enabling developers to build Gemini-powered features across all Flutter platforms. Brandon Badger, the new Product Director, outlines the team's vision for combining Flutter's cross-platform capabilities with generative AI.
Key Takeaways
- New Google AI Dart SDK enables Gemini integration in Flutter apps
- Flutter 3.19 brings Impeller graphics improvements and iOS native fonts
- Dart 3.3 introduces extension types and enhanced JavaScript interop
- WebAssembly support progresses toward production readiness
- Global Gamers Challenge attracts 2,700+ developers building sustainable games
Flutter and Dart are positioning themselves as the go-to framework for building AI-powered, cross-platform apps in the Gemini era while maintaining focus on core performance and developer experience improvements.
About This Article
Flutter and Dart developers couldn't easily work with generative AI models. This made it hard to build smart chatbots, visual search engines, and image description features without relying on external workarounds.
Brandon Badger's team released the google_generative_ai package on pub.dev, which includes the Google AI Dart SDK. Developers can now integrate Gemini API directly into their Dart and Flutter apps, with tutorials and resources to help them get started.
LeanCode used it to build arb_translate for automated translations. We Spot Turtles added AI to their conservation work and got featured in Google Play's #WeArePlay campaign. AutoGPT created a Flutter client that runs on iOS, Android, web, macOS, and Windows.