Is Google Gemini the end of Google Assistant?

Google Bard is now Google Gemini. This is a major rebranding that follows all the testing and finalization of Google’s latest AI technology, and has finally reached the point where the company is ready to make it more widely available .

This isn’t Google’s first smart service, however. It’s not even the first smart service we interact with directly. That would be Google Assistant, a piece of software that people love to hate and hate to love.

So what does Google Gemini mean for Google Assistant, and will you have to relearn how to tell your phone to turn on the kitchen light?

Nothing changes at the moment

If you choose to install the Gemini app for your phone, you’re told it can replace Assistant if you want to sign up. It doesn’t say you have to do it and to be honest I didn’t see much difference with my very limited testing after doing it.

Since I have two phones and two Google accounts, the old Google Assistant runs on one and the new Google Gemini runs on the other. Both can do the same thing as well as poorly. A new codebase doesn’t solve all the problems.

What’s interesting is that I can still use Assistant and nothing has changed. To this day, Assistant is still around, just like before, and likely still using the latest generation of AI processing to understand what it hears and what it should do in response.

Bard is now Gemini, and Duet AI – the software that powers AI tools in the cloud and for Google Workspace – will soon become “Gemini for Google Workspace and Google Cloud” because all the right names have apparently been taken.

However, the Assistant still remains Assistant. But probably not for long.

Change is inevitable

Gemini runs on a different software platform than older Google products that leverage AI, but that doesn’t mean anything has been abandoned. The work to improve features and speed never stops, and eventually, you reach a point where you need to stop adding to the old and move forward. Almost all software works this way, and Windows 11 represents 20 years of work on Windows 98.

Like Windows 98 (or MacOS X if you prefer), there came a point where the old product was abandoned in favor of something newer and hopefully better. Google Assistant, along with AI features in search and Gmail, are at this stage today. I don’t expect Google to spend more time or money continuing to improve and work on one of its dead products when something better is available.

The inclusion of a dedicated Gemini app for Android and iOS underlines this point. The application is not better than the Responsive and super mobile-friendly webpage whatever sort of. If Google didn’t intend to integrate this software into its mobile app package and eventually supplant Assistant, it would be 100% pointless.

Since it is present on the device as an app, it can leverage on-device processing to perform tasks without a mobile connection. Things like helping you write a business letter or turning on your kitchen lights. Without running local code, it simply can’t replace Assistant, so it’s there to run local code on devices with high-performance processors.

Another reason to expect it to replace Assistant is how natural it seems to monetize everything. Since Open AI and Microsoft have accustomed us to the subscription model in which we pay for the privilege of giving away our data, it was natural for Google to follow suit and try to make even more money from what it calls Gemini Advanced.

Gemini Advanced features are locked behind a paywall through Google One. Spend an extra $10 a month and you can get more done today. As new features become available, we should expect most of them to be part of the Premium plan.

You could monetize the new platform while keeping the old one, but it would take more time and effort to do so. Since time and effort are directly linked to profit, I am convinced that Assistant’s days are numbered.

The problem is, Assistant hasn’t gone anywhere and Google hasn’t said anything about it. If you install the Gemini app, you can use it as a replacement, but it is not required.

In a product overview, Google noted that Gemini can already do much of what Assistant does on your phone. Beyond the basics, they say Gemini will eventually become a complete replacement that handles all tasks in a way users are familiar with, and because it’s more powerful, new features could also arrive.

When it comes to other devices, like smart displays or TVs, Google plans to “continue improving Assistant features,” but isn’t using the word Gemini here. This news seems to be centered around the smartphone.

However, don’t count on things staying this way forever. Once Google is convinced that Gemini can effectively replace Assistant, the company will surely do so. The good news is that you probably won’t notice any difference and you shouldn’t need to do anything to prepare.