Google started rolling out its new Gemini voice assistant for its smart speakers two weeks ago and, in a blog post marking the anniversary, the company seems to think everything is going great. It’s even quoting a user who said, “My Google Home just got upgraded with Gemini. It’s actually useful now beyond asking for today’s weather.” That’s some not-so-subtle shade right there.
But dig into the post’s FAQ, and things don’t look so rosy. Two of the most frequently asked questions from those who have the new assistant are:
- Gemini for Home voice assistant is not fully understanding my query… (Example: I tried to set an alarm for 5pm but it set it for 5am.)
- Gemini for Home voice assistant is not properly controlling my home devices. What should I do?
Controlling connected devices such as lights and locks, and doing what you ask it to do, are two very basic requirements of a voice assistant in the home. And Gemini will be the new default voice assistant on all Google Home smart speakers and displays, so it really needs to do those two things well.
Gemini’s launch is part of a Gemini for Home overhaul of Google Home. This brings Gemini’s AI-powered smarts to the Google Home app in the form of a new Ask Home chatbot interface, which gives you access to the Google Home app’s capabilities using natural language text commands. And to Google’s Nest security cameras, which enable them to generate descriptions of what they see and feed them into your smart home in the form of a daily Home Brief.
The new app and new camera capabilities were introduced in early October for all users, although some features require a subscription. To get the Gemini voice assistant, however, you need to go through a convoluted Early Access sign-up process that started on October 28th, and is entirely separate from its Public Preview program. Then you wait.
In the vein of Amazon with its Alexa Plus, Gemini is rolling out very slowly to smart speakers. No one at The Verge has it yet, and based on the Google Home subreddit, it’s not arrived for many other users either. Google has indicated it won’t launch for everyone until next spring at the earliest, when its new Google Home smart speaker should arrive.
When Gemini does land on your devices, it should bring an entirely new voice assistant to Google’s smart displays and smart speakers. The Verge saw a preview last month and heard a more conversational assistant that can understand natural language and interpret context.
Google says Gemini will also be better at controlling your smart home, in part, because you won’t have to use specific wording to get it to do what you want, and 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, lock the front door, and make it warmer in here” should now work.
However, we haven’t been able to test this, and some early comments on Reddit indicated that daisy-chaining any commands isn’t working yet. A limited version of this feature was already part of Google Assistant. Meaning, Gemini may have actually gone backwards.
If you have Gemini on your smart speakers, we want to hear about your experience with it so far. Comment here or email me at jennifer.tuohy@theverge.com. If you’re not sure, just ask your speaker: “Ok Google, who are you?”
Hitting hurdles with smart home control is likely one reason Gemini is rolling out slowly. As we’ve seen from Alexa Plus’s rollout, generative AI and smart home are not easy bedfellows. The old Google Assistant and the original Alexa were built on a command-and-control infrastructure: when this statement occurs, do this.
The new, generative-AI-powered LLM assistants don’t operate the same way, and what gives these systems the ability to be more conversational and understand context also gives them a lot more room for error. “LLMs are great at being creative, but not so good at doing the same thing over and over again with the same predictable output,” Google Home’s Anish Kattukaran told The Verge in an interview.
This challenge is clearly something both Amazon and Google are still trying to overcome. Based on my testing of Alexa Plus and the early indications around the Gemini voice assistant’s capabilities, there’s still a long way to go before we can confidently leave our smart homes in the hands of this new breed of AI assistant.
