Google Assistant has a future on Nest speakers, displays with coming Gemini updates

While Gemini is the future on phones, Google Assistant will remain on smart displays and speakers thanks to Gemini updates meant to improve the experience at home.

The AI focus with Gemini this past year has been on the web and mobile. Alongside the launch of the Google TV Streamer and 4th-gen Nest Learning Thermostat, Google is now ready to talk about how the underlying Gemini models (LLMs) will apply to smart home devices where voice is the primary interaction method.

Notably, these updates will benefit Google Assistant, which will remain in place for Nest displays and speakers.

The key difference between the form factors is how “home devices like speakers and displays need to work for every member of your household” compared to “personal devices like phones.”

This “upgraded Google Assistant” strives to be more “natural and helpful for everyone in your home.” Questions, especially follow-ups, don’t have to be structured in a specific or precise manner compared to today. The goal is to let you have back-and-forth Google Assistant conversations, with context preserved.

For example, ask “Is Pluto a planet?” and then dig deeper with “Could they change their minds again?”

Google is also using LLMs to improve media playback, setting timers, and other core experiences:

Can’t figure out the name of that song? Just ask Google, “Play that song Beyonce performed with the Chicks at the CMAs.”

Then there is Assistant accessing Gemini’s generative capabilities:

…have some fun during a family discussion, like “Help me make the case that Crocs are extremely cool — and mention sport mode.”

Another aspect of making Assistant more conversational are more natural voices that are warmer and have better pacing. 

Before large language models arrived on the scene, Google Assistant was constrained by that era’s technology. The company acknowledged that in previewing what the latest Gemini models can do. Google says the current state of the art is making possible its original vision for Assistant, and that it’s hard at work to upgrade the experience. 

More broadly, these updates to Assistant are an example of how the latest Gemini models can make Google Home more helpful.

Google Assistant joins other updates like using Gemini to generate a description of what’s happening in camera clips and live feeds, as well as letting you search video history with natural queries. Google is also using Gemini to let people easily create Routines. What you want — even something as broad as “help me save energy” — will be translated into starters and actions that users can just save (and adjust as necessary). 

These Gemini-powered updates will first come to Nest Aware subscribers in the Preview Program later this year before seeing a broader launch in 2025.

We’re excited and optimistic about how Gemini technology can help us build the next generation of helpful experiences in the home, and we’re committed to bringing these innovations in a way that respects you and your home.