Google Is Officially Replacing Assistant With Gemini

Google announced today that Gemini will replace Google Assistant on Android phones later in 2025. "[T]he classic Google Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices or available for new downloads on mobile app stores," says Google in a blog post. "Additionally, we'll be upgrading tablets, cars and devices that connect to your phone, such as headphones and watches, to Gemini. We're also bringing a new experience, powered by Gemini, to home devices like speakers, displays and TVs." 9to5Google reports: There will be an exception for phones running Android 9 or earlier and don't have at least 2 GB of RAM, with the existing Assistant experience remaining in place for those users. Google replacing Assistant follows new Android phones, including Pixel, Samsung, OnePlus, and Motorola, launched in the past year making Gemini the default experience. Meanwhile, the company says "millions of people have already made the switch."

Before Assistant's sunset, Google is "continuing to focus on improving the quality of the day-to-day Gemini experience, especially for those who have come to rely on Google Assistant." In winding down Google Assistant, the company notes how "natural language processing and voice recognition technology unlocked a more natural way to get help from Google" in 2016. Further reading: Google's Gemini AI Can Now See Your Search History

Google has AI

[ebunga]

Please clap.

Re:Google has AI[? [motorboat impression]]

[shanen]

Really feeble attempt at an FP joke, but I can segue it (as awkwardly as usual) into the joke-in-progress-of-the-day. This is an old one that started around 2005 with worries about the google "pandering to the masses" in the search results. At that time it wasn't clear how bad it could get, though the pressure from advertisers had already become clear. At least that's how I fuzzily remember it back in ye olde research lab...

Today's form of the question is how the "personalization" will cater to the politica

Re:

[DrXym]

Gemini isn't bad as AIs go but it suffers the same faults - bland homegeneous responses, hallucinations etc. But as a replacement to the assistant it's still a step up. I doubt people will be using it any different though - give me directions to..., set a timer for..., remind me to... etc.

Google probably imagine people are going to say "book me a 7 week holiday to...", or "reserve a dinner table for.." etc. and skim a % off the transaction. Doubt it will happen sufficiently to be profitable.

Re:

[Rei]

It feels like a step down to me. I use AI a lot, but when I want it in an assistant, the way Google has implemented it makes it unusable, because it has no access to any of my info, no ability to control anything, and not even finetuned to understand that it's an assistant.

Example: I can't find my phone, and don't want to have to go to my computer to look it up. So I shout, "Okay Google. Where are you?" Assuming the sound is even on (otherwise it says nothing, even though I just explicitly asked it for a

Major improvement to Google Navigation

[Tony Isaac]

I've opted in to Gemini and have watched it rapidly improve. One significant improvement is in Google Navigation. In the past, if you were driving, and verbally asked it to navigate to, say, the nearest gas station, it would show you a bunch of options on the map. Not exactly a great idea if you're driving down the freeway and don't want to be distracted fiddling with little icons on a phone screen! But once it switched to Gemini, it now just updates your route to do ask you asked. On the down side, it took

Re: Major improvement to Google Navigation

[Tomahawk]

Have they fixed the issue where, if you can't talk, then you can't ask it something like "turn off the lights" or a Routine starter phrase, because it would only respond to voice and not typing? 'cos that's of the main reasons I never switched...

Re:

[Tony Isaac]

Gemini does let you type your input. After long-pressing the middle button at the bottom of your phone, Gemini pops up. Tapping the pop-up window lets you type, instead of speaking.

Re:

[POWRSURG]

This actually sounds like a major downgrade. Before you were given a list of options and were able to make an intelligent choice that worked best for you. Now you're given no option and the choice it made didn't work for you as it wasted your time.

Re:

[Tony Isaac]

I was referring to driving mode. When you're in "normal" mode (searching for choices) it still gives you lots of on-screen options. But once you have started driving and it's providing turn-by-turn directions, that's not a time when it should show you on-screen choices that require you to tap to navigate. If you want that experience, pull over, stop navigating, and search to your heart's content.

Sigh.

[ledow]

Remember.

Gemini *is* Skynet.

Re:

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Wrong trope.

Google is Big Brother, is more accurate.

Another thing to turn off

[invisiblefireball]

I hadn't turned Gemini off on one of my old phones after an update. It's a normal day in my house, I'm a stay at home dad, the kids are home, we're all shooting the shit and hanging out like normal. One of the old phones starts talking randomly (super annoying) and over I go to shut it up.

Lo and behold, what do I see but fucking Gemini, having misheard something one of us said as we talked over each other in our usual noisy fashion, telling me that it cannot search for harmful content, something to do with beastiality. The sort of thing I'd expect they're probably required to report to the FBI. My child had used a phrase that happens to be a euphemism and the AI stitched it together with things others were saying at the same time and turned it into something disgusting.

First off, Gemini, you bullshit-fed piece of garbage, nobody was talking to you and nobody ever will in this house, get the fuck off all my devices forever, and second absolutely how fucking dare you, if I had any power at all I'd sue you into oblivion for accusing me of that. Piece of shit, die.

So yeah. Use these greedy fuck's tools at your own peril, they're ill made and the laws are ill made and there's really nobody out there with actual control over the situation and it'll be very easy to get swept under the carpet if the shit hits the fan, to mix metaphors. There is absolutely no reason to give these apps mic access ever, and no reason to use most of them at all.

Re:

[r1348]

You need to report bestiality to the Feds?

OK, but how about the smart speakers?

[supremebob]

You know, like Google Home/Google Nest and Google Nest Mini? The personal assistant features on those have been getting steadily worse over the past few years, to the point where you need to repeat a simple command several times like "Turn on the lights" before it understands you.

Enshittification

[Draeven]

Oh goodie! A weaker, less featured replacement!

No more "Set an alarm for me"
no more "What song is playing"
Only garbage AI responses that dodge doing anything useful.

Not that they aren't adding features to it, but until it's at least on par with regular assistant, I don't want to even hear about it.

Re:

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Reminder: you are required to show the appropriate level of excitement at this forced upgrade. Please correct your attitude immediately citizen.

Enshitification

[RghtHndSd]

There are a variety of ways for me to get to the office, with varying levels of traffic each day. For the last 8 years, every morning I get in my car and say "Okay Google, take me to work" without fail until 5 months ago or so. Now I've been getting "Tell me about where you work" and "I am just an AI, I cannot take you anywhere." I've given up on using voice commands and have gone back to opening up Maps and manually doing it myself.

all i know

[groobly]

All I infer from this is that they will be breaking things that used to work just fine.