Gemini

In writing about how Gemini is not ready to replace Google Assistant on Android, I’m struck by déjà vu. All the features that Gemini needs to be a good phone assistant is something that another Google product already figured out.

Gemini is not yet ready to replace Google Assistant on Android. That’s the user sentiment that has emerged in recent days and Google is fortunately aware of that, as well as other Gemini “things to fix.”

One of the most annoying aspects of using the Gemini Android app as a Google Assistant replacement on day one was having to manually send/submit voice commands. Google has fortunately fixed that behavior.

Google renamed “Bard” to “Gemini” as part of launching mobile apps and an Advanced tier. While I was never a fan of the Bard name, Google might be pigeonholing itself by calling everything Gemini.

Google launched Gemini this week with the new AI experience set to replace Assistant for many users. If you do go out and enable Gemini on your Android device, though, you might find that there are two Gemini apps on your device. Here’s why.

At launch, Gemini on Android can perform some key Google Assistant features — by essentially routing the command — but it’s far from a complete list. 

Google Bard is now Gemini, and with that rebrand, it’s also now the default assistant app on Android. But, if you were in the habit of using Google Assistant for home controls, Gemini can only replace that functionality if you use it in a specific way.

Sundar Pichai announced last week that Google One is about to cross 100 million subscribers. Google One is now getting a new AI Premium plan that costs $19.99.

Announced as Assistant with Bard alongside the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro last October, Google today is rolling out Gemini to provide an optimized mobile experience that integrates with Android, while it’s now part of the Google app on iOS.

Teased in December as its most capable AI model, Google is rolling out Gemini Ultra 1.0 today. To mark this occasion, Google Bard is being renamed to Gemini on the web, while it’s now available on Android and iOS.

In a somewhat surprising move, it seems that Google is ditching the “Bard” branding altogether across the web app and the upcoming phone experience, switching entirely to “Gemini.”

The year in Bard updates is starting today with Gemini Pro now available in “all supported languages and places.” Google is also adding an image generator to Bard and announcing “ImageFX.”

Besides Recorder Summarize and Magic Compose in Google Messages, Gboard Smart Reply is the other feature that Gemini Nano powers on the Pixel 8 Pro. After initially just supporting WhatsApp, Google has quietly added support for two more apps.

AI features are a big part of the Samsung Galaxy S24 series and Google’s Gemini models are directly powering many of the new capabilities.

Following last week’s consumer-facing announcement, Google is launching Gemini Pro for developers and enterprises through AI Studio and Vertex AI.

In addition to Gboard Smart Reply, Gemini Nano on the Pixel 8 Pro powers a “Summarize’ feature in Recorder. 

Google this week launched Gemini, it’s new AI model that powers Bard and will do a whole lot more in the future. And, to show of the capabilities of Gemini, Google produced a truly impressive demo that, really was too good to be true. And, well, it was, but Google is showing off exactly how it was made.

At I/O 2023 in May, Google demoed an “AI-first notebook” that was originally called Project Tailwind. NotebookLM is now seeing a general release in the US, and – like Bard – will now be powered by Gemini Pro. 

Gemini Nano is Google’s most efficient model aimed at on-device tasks and its debuting on the Pixel 8 Pro today with the December 2023 Feature Drop. 

After being teased at I/O 2023 in May, Google today detailed Gemini 1.0, its next-generation foundation model, and is making it available through Bard.