I’m old enough to remember when Apple first unleashed Siri into the world. I was jealous of the idea of having a “personal assistant” to help me with basic tasks like reminders, alarms, quick questions, and more. However, as a non-Apple user, I really just wanted a Google version. Amazon’s Alexa nearly filled that gap for me, but it was Google Assistant that I was truly waiting for.
Now, nearly eight years after Google Assistant was released, Google is offering up another AI tool for users inGemini, formerly called Bard. Obviously, Google didn’t just suddenly decide that it was going to create a new digital product. This has been years in the making, only to see a premature announcement when OpenAI released ChatGPT into the public at the tail end of 2022.
But in the development of Gemini, Assistant has begun to degrade to the point where I no longer feel like I can rely on it — for anything. Gemini isn’t ready to replace Google Assistant, but it appears that is the plan, and it makes sense, too. However, if simply folding the two together is how Google plans to consolidate its bots, I’m already done with Gemini. Here’s why.
Is Gemini the fix for Google Assistant’s woes?
OK Google, replace yourself with Gemini
Just as fellow Android Police writer Taylor Kerns wrote,Google Gemini is promising, but it can’t replace Assistant just yet. Before it was Gemini, it was Bard, and like ChatGPT, the service isn’t an assistant in the sense that we’ve experienced up until now with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. Instead of doing things like setting alarms, creating reminders, managing smart home devices, and the like, Gemini is more of a productivity helper.
Think of it this way — if Google Assistant had a high school diploma, Gemini is a college grad. Both can answer questions, but Gemini can go deeper in explanations and far more. It can generate code for programming, create AI images, write original stories, turn data into graphs, and so much more. While this all sounds great on paper, in its current state, it doesn’t do any of the truly day-to-day helpful things that I and many others rely on Google Assistant for.
While Gemini is very intelligent, there are some things it simply can’t do — yet.
For all the surprisingly intelligent things that we can use Gemini for, as we’ve seen since theapp began its rollout, it doesn’t have some of the abilities that are core to Google Assistant — yet. WhileGoogle plans to fix some of these early flaws, it’s unclear how these fixes are going to happen. If all the company plans to do is bring more Assistant features into Gemini with the flip of a switch, I’m not sure it’s really fixing anything.
This is because, in its current state, Google Assistant isn’t something I want anymore. I wrote back in September 2023 thatAmazon Alexa is making Google Assistant look bad, and Gemini further shows Google’s lack of awareness or care that Assistant is struggling. Requests I once considered to be simple nearly always result in failures. Things like setting a reminder, turning off lights, and correctly understanding a question all return wildly inconsistent results.
As part of my job, I have the luxury of using multiple smart home products and platforms. So, I have plenty of Alexa and Google Assistant smart speakers in my home. And it’s not just me who’s noticed this. My kids have even reached the point where they can tell Google’s voice assistant falls short of expectations, and now consistently address our Echo devices instead.
It’s strange to me how much effortGoogle has put into the Google Home appto help manage smart home devices, yet allowed the service in which users can vocally control those devices to struggle. But it isn’t just Google Assistant that is being left behind, as Google’s newest smart speaker, theNest Hub (2nd gen), will be three years old this March. While these are devices that need frequent updates, the software does, and it isn’t getting the attention needed to keep the products relevant to what Amazon is offering.
It’s up to Gemini to fire Google Assistant
New Assistant, same as the old Assistant
I think Gemini is an interesting product that I haven’t found a use for yet in my personal life. And while I’m sure I will find something that will make it as important to me as Google Assistant was, unless Google fixes the issues with Assistant before integrating it into Gemini, merging the two is a waste of time. If anything, this move will make Gemini seem dumber than it is.
Consider this: if you ask Gemini to create a business plan for your new big idea, it can do so somewhat intelligently. But when you follow up on that request to turn off your properly set up office lights and you get the response, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to do that,” or “What smart devices would you like to control,” Gemini doesn’t seem so smart anymore. And with Assistant gathering dust, I’m not sure it’s prepared to be anything more than a Band-Aid solution.
