gemini live

Google rolls out voice-powered AI chat to the Android masses

Advanced Voice Mode, AI, AI voice chat, Biz & IT, chatgpt, chatgtp, gemini live, Google, Google Gemini, machine learning, openai, voice synthesis / Kris Guyer / September 13, 2024

Chitchat Wars —

Gemini Live allows back-and-forth conversation, now free to all Android users.

Benj Edwards – Sep 13, 2024 5: 37 pm UTC

Enlarge / The Google Gemini logo.

Google

On Thursday, Google made Gemini Live, its voice-based AI chatbot feature, available for free to all Android users. The feature allows users to interact with Gemini through voice commands on their Android devices. That’s notable because competitor OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode feature of ChatGPT, which is similar to Gemini Live, has not yet fully shipped.

Google unveiled Gemini Live during its Pixel 9 launch event last month. Initially, the feature was exclusive to Gemini Advanced subscribers, but now it’s accessible to anyone using the Gemini app or its overlay on Android.

Gemini Live enables users to ask questions aloud and even interrupt the AI’s responses mid-sentence. Users can choose from several voice options for Gemini’s responses, adding a level of customization to the interaction.

Gemini suggests the following uses of the voice mode in its official help documents:

Talk back and forth: Talk to Gemini without typing, and Gemini will respond back verbally.

Brainstorm ideas out loud: Ask for a gift idea, to plan an event, or to make a business plan.

Explore: Uncover more details about topics that interest you.

Practice aloud: Rehearse for important moments in a more natural and conversational way.

Interestingly, while OpenAI originally demoed its Advanced Voice Mode in May with the launch of GPT-4o, it has only shipped the feature to a limited number of users starting in late July. Some AI experts speculate that a wider rollout has been hampered by a lack of available computer power since the voice feature is presumably very compute-intensive.

To access Gemini Live, users can reportedly tap a new waveform icon in the bottom-right corner of the app or overlay. This action activates the microphone, allowing users to pose questions verbally. The interface includes options to “hold” Gemini’s answer or “end” the conversation, giving users control over the flow of the interaction.

Currently, Gemini Live supports only English, but Google has announced plans to expand language support in the future. The company also intends to bring the feature to iOS devices, though no specific timeline has been provided for this expansion.

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The Pixel 9 phones are big cameras and screens soldered onto Gemini AI ambitions

A Google Pixel 9 Fold and Pixel 9 Pro XL, side by side on white background, with Fold open and 9 Pro XL front and back shown on separate models. — Google / Aurich Lawson

Google announced its fall lineup of Pixel phones today: three standard phones and a second tablet-esque folding model. There are new chips, new cameras, Satellite SOS, and some notable promises, like the 9 phones being “twice as durable” as their Pixel 8 equivalents and getting seven years of updates. But as you might expect this year, they’re primarily showcases for all the things Google’s Gemini AI promises to do for you.

Here’s what’s new, what’s coming, and when you can ask your phone to make a shopping list for taco night for a family of six.

Gemini is in the power button, the screenshots, and a free premium subscription

It’s not just you—Google really is “infusing AI into everything we do,” as noted on its Keyword blog today. Here’s a short list of what Google says Android phone owners can do with Gemini:

Speak to Gemini “naturally the way you would with another person”
Bring up an overlay (holding power button) over other apps to ask about things on-screen
Generate images from that overlay and drop them into apps, like Gmail or Messages
Use “Gemini Live,” a “mobile conversational experience” in which you could, for example, “brainstorm potential jobs well-suited for your skillset or degree”

Gemini Live is launching today for Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android, with iOS coming soon. New extensions to Gemini, and contextual overlay for non-Pixel devices, should arrive “in the coming weeks.”

You might think you won’t use Google’s Gemini as much as Google thinks you will, but Google aims to change your mind with one free year of the Google One AI Premium Plan (i.e., “Gemini Advanced“), which is bundled into a Pixel 9 Pro or Pro XL purchase. That also grants you access to what Google is doing with Gemini in Gmail, Docs, and maybe search, along with a 2TB storage plan.

Holding the power button on an AI-enabled Pixel 9 Pro will bring up a dashboard that allows for writing, asking, or searching through interconnected Google apps for information. Like Google Lens, you can ask Gemini about what’s on your screen or ask it about something in a photo you snap. It’s a little unclear which features may eventually get backported to the Pixel 9 or other Android phones generally. That’s probably the idea: if you’re excited about this stuff, Google strongly suggests paying $200 more.