Hello Gemini, Goodbye Google Assistant

Google’s AI voice assistant never got the love or household name recognition that Siri and Alexa got. For one, its name was Google Assistant. What was Google thinking? It’s so dry and immemorable. Of course it doesn’t roll off the tongue.

Once Google released Gemini in December 2023 to publicly join the race against OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the writing was on the wall for Google Assistant. Generative AIs such as Gemini and ChatGPT have their problems, but the sheer amount of data they’re able to draw their responses from frankly kicks the asses of earlier AI “voice assistants.”

Google made it official last Friday that Gemini would be replacing Google Assistant, first on Android phones, and by the year’s end, Google Assistant would no longer be available on “most” mobile devices.

it starts with phones

Although the phase-out begins with smartphones, it’ll seemingly happen across the board. “Additionally, we’ll be upgrading tablets, cars and devices that connect to your phone, such as headphones and watches, to Gemini,” wrote Google in its Google Assistant retirement announcement.

“We’re also bringing a new experience, powered by Gemini, to home devices like speakers, displays and TVs. We look forward to sharing more details with you in the next few months. Until then, Google Assistant will continue to operate on these devices.”

I’ve been using Google Assistant on a Nest Hub for the last five years, and while it worked fine as a smart home hub, it pisses me off on a daily basis by mishearing me and failing to scrounge up answers to softball questions.

It’s not unique to Google Assistant. Overlapping that same five-year period, I’ve been using Siri via a series of iPhones, as well as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant through countless vehicles’ infotainment systems I’ve tested as a vehicle reviewer and used for personal use. All three have similar limitations.

Gemini will be able to respond to the same rote queries we’ve been posing to Google Assistant, such as accessing apps, making reminders, and posing mathematical questions we should surely be able to figure out ourselves.

It adds capabilities that Google Assistant could only dream of, though. There’s Gemini Live for “free-flowing, multimodal conversations” and Deep Research, which you can use to gather background academic or professional research.

Given the spate of hallucinations—where generative AIs such as Gemini make up bald-faced lies—I expect some stumbling blocks, ranging from hilarious to frustrating to dangerously misinformed, like that time it told us to eat glue pizza.

There’s always Google’s double-check tool, which you can use if you want to press Gemini on its sourcing. I’m not wild about the need to fact-check my own robot assistant, but until Silicon Valley can quit bestowing life upon a fleet of synthetic compulsive liars, I suppose it’s better than nothing.

In the meantime, expect that we’ll continue to play public beta tester, however reluctantly. “Gemini is built on large and sophisticated AI models, which means in some instances simple requests might take longer than with Google Assistant,” writes Google in a blog post comparing Gemini with Google Assistant.

“This is something we’re actively working on, so expect Gemini to continue to get faster.”