At this year’s CES, Google confirmed that its Google Home / Google Nest voice assistant, which integrates Gemini AI for more conversational responses, may launch later this year. Continue reading the report on how adding Gemini AI to Google Home / Nest will let you chat with your home assistant more naturally.
With Gemini AI coming to Google Home / Nest, you’ll be able to chat with your home assistant more naturally.
As Gemini AI integration gradually deepens into almost all devices and services across the Google ecosystem, most people can already expect that Google Home / Google Nest—that is, smart speakers, smart displays, and even smart home systems—will soon receive various features powered by generative AI large language models. Among them, what everyone is most looking forward to is probably a voice assistant that is more conversational and better understands human needs, right?
Unfortunately, although features originating from Gemini have already integrated quite a few corresponding Google ecosystem services through extensions, when it comes to directly upgrading Google Assistant or even replacing it with Gemini, Google has so far still pursued a parallel approach, and has even leaned more toward the previous way of using its AI voice assistant.
However, at this year’s CES, foreign media confirmed through Google’s live demonstration that the Google Home / Google Nest voice assistant, which incorporates Gemini AI for more conversational responses, will begin public beta testing later this year.
▲Image source: Google
A more talkative Google smart speaker
According to foreign media Engadget’s impressions, this current plan will still require the Google Home / Google Nest voice assistant to be activated via “Hey Google.” The Nest Audio can already provide the rich information available when chatting with Gemini, and will reply to you in natural conversation – simply put, you’ll no longer be limited to “words Google Assistant understands” (so excited!).
In the demo, Google staff demonstrated conversations like asking for recipe ideas and guessing song names from clues — and yes, the media were not allowed to test the new Gemini Google Home / Google Nest voice assistant on site.
According to foreign media, despite a pause of about one to two seconds between exchanges, Gemini AI handles the conversation fluidly and can keep chatting without the need for keyword commands.
▲Image source: Google
Google also demonstrated further that, as previously mentioned, it will integrate the power of Gemini into image analysis features for devices including the Nest Hub smart display and Nest Cam smart camera.
By asking, “What happened to the cookies (that were) on the counter?” Google Hub responded with, “A dog jumped on the counter and looked at the cookies on December 12th at 1:29PM” — a reply that analyzes the video and delivers conclusions via voice. Come to think of it, the AI analysis behind both the voice assistant and the Nest Cam backend is incredibly powerful.
▲Image source: Google
Is Google too late with a generative AI-powered “Home”?
Personally, I originally expected that the Google Home / Google Nest system, which utilizes the chatbot’s supposedly strongest capability—”chatting”—would be a fairly natural development. So I really didn’t think such a feature would have to wait until 2025 for Google to demo it. That said, over in the other camp, Apple Intelligence’s experience also hasn’t mentioned any integration with smart speakers.
For my part, I feel that perhaps Google wants to start introducing this kind of capability into smart home systems only after an AI with voice conversation ability at the level of “Gemini Live” emerges. So that’s why the pace feels relatively somewhat slower.
It should be noted that Google’s demonstrations so far are still largely based on pre-arranged scenarios, so how it would actually perform in real-life situations remains unknown – at least personally, I’m quite curious about how Gemini within the Google Home / Google Nest system would respond if asked to take on tasks that go beyond everyday household life.
Furthermore, it has been mentioned that, at this stage, the smart features integrating Google Nest devices with each other will require a Nest Aware subscription. But whether the Gemini version’s voice conversation capabilities will also be placed behind the subscription paywall is unknown – personally, I think it will be open, since Gemini Live follows that strategy. I’m also quite curious whether previous devices like Google Home / Home mini / Home Max will have the chance to directly support Gemini AI’s voice features.
Perspective: In the post-generative AI era, is the key still the ecosystem?
According to foreign media, Gemini should hold a considerable advantage over the current Apple Siri and Amazon Alexa, whether in the responses and information it provides as a voice assistant or in the resource foundation of its smart home ecosystem.
On the other hand, I personally believe that the main protagonist behind the sudden explosion of generative AI in recent years is OpenAI. Although it still seems to be leading the pack in the large language model competition—such as text generation and image generation—when it comes to video generation, it appears to be starting to gradually fall behind Google. (See more: )OpenAI Sora vs. Tencent Hunyuan: Which AI Video Generation Model Comes Out on Top?）
And if the battlefield ahead shifts to “ecosystem-level” competitive factors that demand more hardware support, even as OpenAI continues to join forces with Microsoft to maintain its edge, it still feels like breaking through the ecosystem walls that rivals such as Google, Apple, and Amazon have built over the years will be very difficult in the short term.
As for this part, it’s unclear how OpenAI will respond – will they continue partnering with other brands? Or will they launch innovative devices that make everyone want one? I just feel like in terms of hardware, it might actually be Meta, who’s been playing catch-up, that has a better shot…
Citation source:Engadget｜
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Source: KOCPC Chinese