Anyone who’s used a voice or AI assistant in the last decade or two has faced the same problem. You go to talk to the thing, you stop because your brain decided to pick that moment to shut down entirely for some reason, and the AI assumes you’re done and goes on to process half of what you wanted. Google is aiming to fix this problem with Gemini, at least potentially, with an upcoming update.
Spotted by Android Authority, the new mic option is currently being tested in version 16.42.61 of the Google app. Once the setting is ticked, the user can long-press the microphone, causing the app to continuously listen until the user taps the stop button. As Android Authority notes, this is excellent for longer requests where the user may have to pause a couple of times to gather their thoughts or take a breath.
It’ll also fix the long-standing problem of Gemini going off to do its thing without waiting for you to finish, a bug-like problem that has plagued many users. Mashable’s tech editor Timothy Werth says he’s encountered this bug when talking to Gemini. The chatbot will rush to answer your question when you pause, even if you’re not quite done with your question.
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Users who also want to process multi-step automation and similar, more complex prompts will be grateful to be able to voice them all at once instead of getting interrupted. Gemini does have a free-flowing conversation mode for these sorts of use cases via Gemini Live. However, this is a separate overlay that you have to launch. Having the option to do it on the main interface is certainly helpful for some use cases.
Per Android Authority, Google is also playing with some UI elements, including the aforementioned Gemini Overlay feature, but it’s unclear if those features will ever make it to production. There is no word yet as to the release date of the new Gemini mic mode, or whether it’ll make it out of testing at all.
