U-Turn on Gemini: AI Giant Forgoes Google Assistant Substitute

The launch of Gemini was once seen as a death knell for Google Assistant. Now, somewhat confusingly, Google Assistant is gaining new smart home capabilities “with help from Gemini.” It seems that the aging Assistant will coexist with Google’s darling LLM.

Google never explicitly stated that Gemini would replace Assistant. But the writing was on the wall. Or, at least, it appeared to be there. Google Assistant has been in slow decline for years, losing key functionality and progressively withering into a crappier version of what it once was. The rise of ChatGPT was accompanied by a chorus of “this is what a voice assistant will look like in the future,” and to no one’s surprise, Gemini became a semi-optional replacement for Assistant on Android phones earlier this year. A new product was pushing its predecessor into obsolescence—this is what happens to technology.

We didn’t expect any upgrades or improvements for Google Assistant. Now, Google is busting down the door to announce Assistant’s new voice, enhanced capabilities, and improved ability to understand voice commands. All of these features come courtesy of Gemini.

Evidently, Google Assistant will remain a component of the Google Home environment. It’s unclear whether this is a branding decision or simply a matter of convenience. Most of the tasks that are fulfilled by Google Assistant (at least in the smart home) do not exist in Gemini. And while there may be some AI smarts behind Assistant’s language capabilities, no one will ever ask their Nest Mini speaker to generate an essay or proofread an email. A smart home assistant needs to be succinct, not verbose.

The new Google Assistant improvements were announced in a press release alongside several other Gemini smart home integrations (subtly reinforcing the idea that Assistant is now a smart home-specific product). And these AI smart home integrations are plainly in Gemini’s wheelhouse. You can now have a conversation with your Nest Cam to ask what it’s seen throughout the day, for example, or generate a Google Home script through natural language input (the latter feature already existed in some capacity).

In the past, these Nest Cam and Google Home upgrades would be accredited to Assistant. So, yeah, Gemini is replacing Assistant as the conversational or generative aspect of Google’s portfolio, but Assistant is still the thing you talk to when controlling smart home devices.

This could be an aberration in Google’s AI strategy. For all we know, Assistant will be randomly dumped in a grave next year. But that’s not the case today, and Google isn’t taking the time to explain how things will shake out.

New Gemini-powered Google Home improvements, including the Assistant upgrades, will roll out to Nest Aware subscribers in Public Preview later this year. A full rollout, which may or may not remove the Nest Aware requirement, will come at a later date.

Source: Google