Google has always been known for its confusing array of products and brands. Trying to keep up with Google’s various messaging apps alone is a challenge. But when it comes to artificial intelligence, Google is streamlining. On Thursday, the company announced it is renaming its conversational AI chatbot Bard to simply Gemini. Gemini will also become the face of AI across Google’s products, including replacing Google Assistant on Android.
With the launch of dedicated Gemini apps for Android, Google is signaling that its AI assistant could be just as integral to its future as Search. The new Gemini app allows users to set Gemini as the default assistant on Android devices, taking over the traditional “Hey Google” activation trigger. While Google stated it’s not eliminating Google Assistant entirely, Gemini’s increasing prominence exemplifies Google’s view that Gemini represents the path forward for AI.
“I think it’s a super important first step towards building a true AI assistant,” said Sissie Hsiao, head of Gemini. “One that is conversational, it’s multimodal, and it’s more helpful than ever before.”
Beyond mobile, Google is also rebranding all its existing AI features. What was known as Duet AI in Gmail, Docs and other Workspace apps will now fall under the Gemini name. These features help users draft emails, analyze spreadsheets and more. Even Google’s AI-powered search could someday be called Gemini, positioning the assistant at the core of everything Google builds.
For most users, interacting with the standard Gemini model known as Gemini Pro will be sufficient. But Google is offering Gemini Ultra 1.0, the largest version of its language model yet, to subscribers of its new Google One AI Premium plan for $19.99/month. That subscription also includes expanded Google Drive storage and support.

Hsiao stated that Gemini Ultra “sets the state of the art across a wide range of benchmarks across text, image, audio, and video,” with the ability to retain more context, have longer conversations, code logic and reason more advanced concepts.
The centralization of Google’s AI efforts around Gemini raises the stakes in its race with AI rivals like OpenAI. In early testing, Gemini lagged behind competitors in speed. Now Google aims to prove Gemini can keep pace and become an assistant users actively prefer, while also hoping to convince developers to build on Gemini’s foundations.
Google has only bet the house on a single product a few times before. The fate of Google Plus offers a cautionary tale. But the company’s full pivot towards Gemini signals Google sees AI as an all-in opportunity. If executed successfully, Gemini may end up just as synonymous with Google as Search itself.
Discover more from GadgetBond
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
