Google announced Friday that the Google Assistant is no longer for this world. The company plans to transition most Android devices to Gemini instead. This includes phones, tablets, devices that connect to your phone, headphones, and even the Assistant in the car. The only devices spared will be those limited to 2GB of RAM or that aren’t on a compatible version of Android.
This is the first official declaration from Google that the Google Assistant is on its way out, but it’s not like we weren’t expecting it. Gemini is already the default experience on most mainstream Android devices, including Google, Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus, and overseas brands. Google also insists that “millions of people have already made the switch,” though I would challenge them on how many people did so willingly. I did not, for instance, want to make the change initially. I only acquiesced because I realized I had to evolve with the times if I was going to keep writing about smartphones.
I’m triste about this, because this transition from the Google Assistant to Google’s Gemini AI has been messy. Watching Google slowly nerf how I’ve trained myself to interact with my smart home and other Google-led devices has been devastating. I’m thinking about my precious dongle barely holding on in my old car. But I’m also thinking about the Lenovo smart clock I use to wake up every morning and shut off the lights each night. I’ve contacted Google and the manufacturers of these devices to see what they recommend. I suspect a ton of disappointment expressed in forum posts across the internet as people realize their Google Assistant devices will become paperweights. Who even has paper to hold down anymore?
Gemini is a better digital assistant in many ways. It is much more conversational, and you can use it with yourself to talk out thoughts and whatnot. I recently shared a 15-minute video with my colleague that I took of Gemini and me having a back-and-forth about something I was researching. Gemini didn’t net the best results at the end of that—it made me cry a little out of frustration. But I did realize through that experience that the assistants we knew of with the Google Assistant and even Apple’s Siri are undergoing the next evolution. Digital assistants were always supposed to be more conversational, personal, and interactive. And now that Gemini has achieved it, Google is ready to roll it out.
