the AI industry was in a period of gradual progress before the generative AI trend disrupted it, and accelerated its growth.
Following OpenAI's introduction of ChatGPT, pretty much all tech companies, large and small, started adopting, or developing their own solutions, and race forward towards supremacy. And among the many, include Google.
The tech titan has what it calls 'Gemini,' an AI it hopes can help maintain its dominance in the post-search future.
Gemini has a number of variants, and this time, Google is introducing yet another variant.
Google calls it the 'Gemini Live', and that it's making it available for free for Android users.
Live is now available for all Gemini users in English on the Android app. We can’t wait for you to try it. https://t.co/jev4pnuZJ0
— Google Gemini App (@GeminiApp) September 30, 2024
Gemini Live is unlike all other chatbots and that no matter what, nothing can compare to it on Android.
The chatbot that was announced during its Pixel 9 event, Gemini Live is a voice chat feature that works similarly to OpenAI's GPT-4o-powered voice mode, with multiple voices to choose from and the ability to speak conversationally.
According to Google in a blog post, conversations with Gemini Live can be "free-flowing," meaning that users can do things like interrupt an answer mid-sentence or pause the conversation and come back to it later.
But what makes Gemini Live unique on Android is the fact that the AI is baked directly into Android.
This makes the AI to live inside the operating system, granting it a number of abilities other AIs that come as mobile apps can never have.
For example, Gemini Live can work uninterrupted in the background, and also work when the phone is locked.
Users can also bring up Gemini in the form of an overlay that hovers on top of other apps, and ask questions directly to it, like asking what's on the screen.
For example, users can find specific information about a YouTube video they're watching, create AI-generated images directly from the overlay, and drag-and-drop items to apps like Gmail and Google Messages.
When it was first launched, Gemini Live has only been available to Gemini Advanced users, requiring a $20 monthly membership to access.
This time, Google is releasing the AI to everyone, meaning that it's also available to non-paying users.
All users have to do, is download the Gemini live app on their Android phone, open the app to tap on Live at the bottom of the screen.
Gemini Live is now available to all Android users, but the free tier only includes the basic version. Users on this tier won’t have access to the ten different voices featured in the paid version.
It's also only available in English at the moment of its launch.