Google Assistant moves out: Gemini comes to the smart home

Contents

The Google Assistant is being phased out of Google's smart home devices by the end of this year. The new roommate will be "Gemini for Home". According to the company, the new voice assistant has been specially developed for Nest devices.

Gemini models for the home

As Google explains in a blog post, this is not a renaming of the Google Assistant, but an introduction of the AI that Google uses for its Gemini models. The new assistant will have functions that have been "developed specifically for home use", it says.

According to Google, the new assistant offers "reliable, hands-free assistance" and should be able to manage "complex tasks" on all smart home devices. "Gemini for Home" relies on the capabilities of Google's "most powerful models in the areas of reasoning, inference and search". This should make the AI more user-friendly than the Google Assistant, among other things.

Natural language

Gemini is designed to understand natural conversations so that users can dispense with rigid commands. It should also be possible to use more nuanced or complex queries.

In the future, it should be possible to bundle several instructions for smart home control in one sentence. For example, you could say: "Dim the light and set the temperature to 20 degrees." Gemini should also be able to understand complex commands such as "Turn off all lights except in the bedroom".

The smart home assistant should also become more flexible when it comes to organizing appointments or shopping. Instead of dictating individual things, Gemini can be instructed to add the ingredients for a particular recipe directly to the shopping list. In addition, the search for media content will become more intuitive by allowing you to find songs or movies using descriptions instead of knowing the exact title.

Gemini Live helps with cooking

Another innovation for the smart home is the introduction of Gemini Live. This should allow Google Home to enable more dialog-oriented voice interactions without having to say "Hey Google" repeatedly. The live assistant is intended to offer more detailed and personalized help –, for example when cooking: "I have spinach, eggs, cream cheese and smoked salmon in the fridge. Help me prepare a delicious meal." Gemini Live offers suggestions for Florentine eggs, a frittata and pasta as well as instructions on how to prepare them. But Gemini Live is also designed to help with buying a car, repairing a dishwasher or more creative tasks such as inventing bedtime stories.

"Gemini for Home" will gradually replace the Google Assistant on all compatible devices such as Nest speakers and displays. Google has also confirmed that there will be both free and paid models of the service. An Earl Access program for selected users is due to start in October.

It is interesting to note that Google has not introduced any new smart home products since 2021, apart from the Pixel tablet and the Google TV streamer. One could therefore speculate that the manufacturer may also announce new smart displays or speakers over the coming months with the broader launch of "Gemini for Home".

(afl)