Google launched a barrage of new hardware this week, from the Pixel 9 smartphones to new wireless earbuds. Underpinning all the shiny gadgetry is Google’s Gemini artificially intelligent assistant. The chatbot launched earlier this year and is now the default assistant on the Pixel 9 series and is already available on millions of Android phones worldwide. But there’s a new way to talk to this chatbot that’s now rolling out: Gemini Live.
This is Google’s response to OpenAI’s GPT-4o, a way to talk to the assistant naturally, much like a normal voice conversation between two humans (or at least that’s the goal). It’s rolling out in English to Gemini Advanced subscribers ($20 per month), and you can access it by tapping on the little Live button at the bottom right of the Gemini app. It will come to the iOS app and more languages in the coming weeks.
Sissie Hsiao, Google’s vice president of Gemini experiences, tells WIRED this chatbot isn’t just a reheated Google Assistant. Instead, it’s an interface that’s been completely rebuilt using generative AI. “Over the years of building Assistant, there are two things users have asked us for repeatedly,” Hsiao says. “Number one is they’ve asked for a more fluid and natural assistant—they want to be able to talk to it naturally without having to change the way they speak. The second is more capable; to help them solve their life problems, not just simple tasks.”
Launch Gemini and you’ll see a blank screen with an ethereal light glowing up from the bottom. You can start talking to the assistant and have a conversation even if your phone is locked and the screen is off, and it’s also accessible through Google’s new Pixel Buds Pro 2 wireless earbuds so you can talk hands-free while your phone is in your bag. There are 10 voices you can choose from of varying tones, accents, and styles. When you end the session, you’ll see a transcription of the entire conversation, and that’s something you can access at any time in the Gemini app.
Unlike previous voice assistants, Gemini Live allows you to interrupt it without ruining the interaction—a handy feature because Gemini tends to be quite talkative. The service is designed to integrate with other applications through extensions, though many are not yet available. You will be able to use Gemini Live to access a party invite on your Gmail, inquiring directly about its time and place, or find a recipe and have the ingredients added directly to a shopping list in Google Keep. Google plans to add such functionalities to its various apps, including Keep, Tasks, Utilities, Calendar, and YouTube Music, in the near future.
As the year progresses, Google intends to enhance Gemini Live with Project Astra, the computer vision technology previewed at its May developer conference. This feature will utilize your phone’s camera, allowing you to query Gemini about objects in your view instantly. For instance, you could ask about the details of a concert poster you pass by, have the dates saved in your calendar, and set a reminder to purchase tickets.
Previously, interactions with voice assistants were quite transactional; however, engaging with Gemini Live feels unexpectedly more dynamic. It’s a significant departure from using Google Assistant or Alexa to get a weather forecast, automate tasks like opening blinds, or check if certain foods are safe for your pet. Even though traditional assistants allow for simple follow-ups, they weren’t developed to sustain a continuous conversation like Gemini Live.
Hsiao shares that she appreciates using Gemini Live during her drives home from work. She once initiated a chat about the Paris Olympics and Celine Dion’s performance at the opening ceremony. Curious about the song, Hsiao inquired, “Can you tell me a little bit about the song she sang?” The AI provided details about the song’s origin, composer, its meaning, and through further conversation, revealed that Celine Dion can sing in Chinese.
“I was so surprised,” she says. “But that just gives you an example of how you can find out stuff; it’s an interaction with technology that people couldn’t have before this kind of curiosity and exploration through conversation. This is just the beginning of where we’re headed with the Gemini assistant.”
In my demo, I asked Gemini what I should eat for dinner. It asked if I wanted something light and refreshing or a hearty meal. We went on, back and forth, and when Gemini suggested a shrimp dish I lied and said I was allergic to shrimp, to which it then recommended salmon. I said I didn’t have salmon. “You could always grill up some chicken breasts and toss them in a salad with grilled salad and a light vinaigrette dressing.” I asked for a recipe, and it started going through the instructions step by step. I interrupted it, but I can go back into the Gemini app to find the recipe later.
I can imagine following this approach now when I want to learn about anything, and just continuing the conversation even after Gemini answers my initial query. I still have many concerns: Why is there no direct attribution or sourcing for the information it surfaces? Can I trust that everything it says is accurate? Hsaio says when you exit Gemini Live, you can click on the little “G” icon underneath transcribed text to check its work and run your own Google searches.
But more and more, I find myself thinking that this is the future of search. You just ask, get the answers, and keep talking to learn more. The problem is that Gemini tends to talk a lot. Its responses are verbose, so you’re often waiting a while before you can follow up. Yes, you can interrupt it to move on, but it’s awkward interrupting a voice assistant. I don’t want to be rude!
Amid the buzz around Gemini and Gemini Live, you might be curious about the role of Google Assistant in this ecosystem. If you access your profile in the Gemini app, there’s an option titled Switch to Google Assistant, suggesting you can revert to the former setup—though it’s uncertain how long this option will remain. For now, Google Assistant maintains certain capabilities that Gemini lacks, facilitating a transition phase. “Gradually, Gemini will independently perform these tasks,” states Hsiao.
Recent announcements revealed Google’s upcoming Nest products along with enhancements to Google Assistant, which will soon feature a more natural voice integrated with Gemini’s sophisticated language models. Notably, it will be able to analyze footage from your video doorbell to determine whether a FedEx delivery was made and offer more detailed motion alerts, rather than simply notifying of a detected person.
This heralds the coexistence of two virtual assistants, a situation Google currently embraces. According to Hsiao, Gemini is envisioned as your private assistant, adept at managing personal queries like calendar events and email invitations, while Google Assistant serves as a communal aide in household settings—a reflection of its role as a family-oriented device. It addresses privacy concerns, such as preventing potentially sensitive personal email queries from being answered aloud in common areas of the home.
This development could pose significant branding challenges, given the plethora of Gemini versions already in circulation—remember, Gemini started as “Bard” in its preview phase last year. Device-specific limitations could also arise, thwarting tasks based on which device is in use, creating frustrations like being unable to prompt a task through a Nest Speaker when your smartphone, linked to Gemini, is not at hand.
“We’re still exploring the branding of that, and we’re still in the early development phases,” Hsiao says. “Branding aside, we need to make sure that people get what they want from their most helpful assistant, whether it’s on their personal phone or in the home, and it solves their use cases.”
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