What you need to know
- Google announced that it will be upgrading Google Assistant with Gemini “in the coming months.”
- By the end of this year, people will not be able to download Google Assistant from app stores as it will be discontinued.
- Google has not mentioned any details as to when this upgrade will begin and which devices will start seeing the change first.
Google Assistant is running on borrowed time as the tech giant announced today (Mar. 14) that it will slowly start replacing Google Assistant with Gemini. Google Assistant has been around since 2016, and we’ve all gotten used to saying “Hey Google” for a better part of a decade now. However, this switch is something that has been on the cards for several months now. Recent rumors even indicated a new wake word in the works, so it feels like we did see this coming.
In a Keyword post, the company stated that they will be upgrading Google Assistant with Gemini, “offering a new kind of help only possible with the power of AI.” The upgrade is said to take personalization to a whole new level since Gemini will be able to interact with other apps on the phone to understand the user’s choices better.
Google says that millions of users have switched from using Google Assistant to Gemini. That said, no longer having to choose between Gemini and Assistant could be a step in the right direction, especially as Google has been working to improve Gemini’s capabilities and bring over Assistant features.
While we don’t know when this will be put into motion for users at large, the company hinted at the fact that most devices will end up having Gemini instead of Google Assistant by the end of 2025.
“Over the coming months, we’re upgrading more users on mobile devices from Google Assistant to Gemini,” the company stated in the Keyword. With that, later this year, users will no longer be able to download Google Assistant from their mobile app stores since it will no longer be accessible.
Not just phones but all the other devices that use Assistant will also be upgraded to AI-powered Gemini. The company will be bringing this shift to its line of wearables and home devices like headphones, watches, speakers, and TVs. We assume that this will be rolled out in phases over the next few months, until then Google Assistant will continue to live on devices and run as usual.
Lastly, Google says that “it is just getting started” with this Gemini integration. Once Gemini replaces Assistant, the company will bring features like Gemini Live and Deep Research, which will help transform Gemini into “a personal research assistant.”
However, it is important to note that Google Assistant will continue to work as usual for phones that can’t run Gemini.
