During Google I/O 2024, Gemini Live was demoed; a mobile AI product capable of holding “natural conversations”. Much like Siri, you can get into two-way dialogues with Gemini and get really short answers.
Further new details have emerged recently when that code referencing Gemini Live appeared within a Google app beta. This code also references a “background mode” for ongoing conversations using other apps or with a locked screen. According to 9To5Google, this feature turns Gemini Live into a phone call-like experience.
AI accepts vocal inputs and responds while multitasking. You can browse Chrome, for instance, and relay search results to Gemini. The aim is to make interactions with the AI feel natural.
Interactions can be ended by users simply looking for a persistent notification or speaking “Stop” aloud to Gemini Live.
Gemini’s Additional Capabilities
In addition to the background mode, there’s more in the beta: Google is also working on quick access to Gemini when phones are locked. Screenshot previews include four of the extensions: Google Maps, Google Flights, Google Hotels, and YouTube.
How exactly these extensions function wasn’t detailed, although one might presumably be able to do something like ask Gemini for directions, or play YouTube music on a drive, or even book flights eventually. These are enabled by default; more are in the pipeline.
The catch is, of course, that extensions that require no user credentials or private data will be default-enabled, and the rest will need manual activation.
Furthermore, three more features can be toggled from this view: Messages for texting, Workspace to summarize emails and documents, and Home Automation to manage smart home devices.
Surpassing Apple
Gemini Live does not yet have a release date; it is arriving sometime in the coming months for Advanced users of Gemini based on an announcement from Google in May. Google, of course, has been mum since then. It may show up sometime before the end of summer, or perhaps not until fall.
When it does emerge, attributes like background mode and lock screen interaction perhaps can help distinguish it from Apple Intelligence. Apple’s technology consists of multiple resources for organization and content development, but the user must interact constantly. It ought to be more user-friendly Gemini Live inasmuch is it much less taxing on the user.
One should view such leaks very tentatively. Plans could always change at the last minute.