Google started rolling out its up-to-date Gemini voice assistant for its clever speakers two weeks ago, and in 2013 blog post for the anniversary, the company seems to think everything is going great. It even quotes a user who said, “My Google Home just updated with Gemini. It’s really useful now, beyond asking about today’s weather.” It’s a not-so-subtle shade.
But dig in the fasting FAQand the situation doesn’t look so rosy anymore. Two of the most frequently asked questions by people with a up-to-date assistant are:
- The Gemini for Home voice assistant doesn’t quite understand my query… (Example: I tried to set the alarm for 5:00 p.m., but it was set to 5:00 a.m.).
- Gemini for Home voice assistant does not properly control my home devices. What should I do?
Controlling connected devices like lights and locks and executing commands are two very basic requirements for a voice assistant at home. Gemini will be the up-to-date default voice assistant on all Google Home clever speakers and displays, so it really needs to do these two things well.
The launch of Gemini is part of the modernization of Google Home as part of Gemini for Home. This brings Gemini’s AI-powered clever solutions to the Google Home app in the form of a up-to-date Ask Home chatbot interface, which provides access to the capabilities of the Google Home app using natural language text commands. And Google Nest security cameras, which allow them to generate descriptions of what they see and send them to your clever home in the form of daily home information.
Novel application and up-to-date camera capabilities have been introduced in early October for all usersalthough some features require a subscription. However, to get the Gemini voice assistant, you must go through a complicated early access registration process, which started on October 28 and is completely independent of Public Preview Program. Then you wait.
Following Amazon’s example, Gemini appears with Alexa Plus very slowly for clever speakers. Nobody at Edge it also has this on the basis Google Home subredditit is also not available to many other users. Google has indicated that it won’t be available to everyone until next spring at the earliest, when the up-to-date Google Home clever speaker is expected to arrive.
When Gemini lands on your devices, it should bring a brand up-to-date voice assistant to Google’s clever displays and clever speakers. Edge I saw a preview last month and heard a more conversational assistant that understands natural language and interprets context.
Google says Gemini will also be better at controlling your clever home, in part because you won’t have to exploit specific wording to get it to do what you want, and you can issue multiple commands at once. So in theory, a command like “Hey Google, turn on the lights except in the bedroom, turn on the TV, close the front door and make it warmer in here” should now work.
We weren’t able to test this, however, and some early comments on Reddit indicated that chaining arbitrary commands not working yet. A constrained version of this feature was already part of Google Assistant. This means that Gemini may have actually regressed.
If you have Gemini on your clever speakers, we’d love to hear your experience with it so far. Comment here or email me at jennifer.tuohy@theverge.com. If you’re not sure, just ask the person you’re talking to: “OK Google, who are you?”
Overcoming obstacles with clever home control is probably one of the reasons Gemini’s growth is ponderous. As we saw with the introduction of Alexa Plus, generative AI and the clever home are not uncomplicated bedfellows. The aged Google Assistant and the original Alexa were built on a command and control infrastructure: when this statement comes up, do it.
Novel LLM assistants using generative AI don’t work in the same way, and what gives these systems the ability to be more conversational and understand context also gives them much more room for error. “LLMs are great at creativity, but not so good at doing the same things over and over with the same predictable results,” said Anish Kattukaran of Google Home Edge in an interview.
This challenge is certainly something Amazon and Google are still trying to overcome. Based on my testing of Alexa Plus and early indications of the Gemini voice assistant’s capabilities, we still have a long way to go before we can confidently leave our clever homes in the hands of this next generation of AI assistants.