Google Bakes Gemini AI Inside Android, To Provide 'Gemini Live' Voice Chat

The AI sphere was rather quiet, dull and boring. It rarely made ripples outside its own realm, and barely disrupt the global industry.

But since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, things changed. Tech companies began competing in an arms race that sooner than later, the technology can seemingly decimate those that didn't jump into the bandwagon and piggyback the trend.

After providing a way for users to use chatbots to answer questions, things ramped up a bit, when the AIs are given enhanced capabilities that include the ability to generate images and videos.

Tech companies also enhanced their AI products with the ability to speak the way humans would.

This time, Google goes a step further, by baking its Gemini AI directly to Android.

Google calls is the 'Gemini Live'.

Announced during its Pixel 9 event, the 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 unlike all other AI chatbots is 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.

"Android is reimagining your phone with Gemini," said Google in another blog post.

"With Gemini deeply integrated into Android, we're rebuilding the operating system with AI at the core, and redefining what phones can do."

In all, Gemini Live offers a mobile conversational experience that lets users interact with an AI-powered chatbot about "whatever's on your mind."

"Ask complex questions, explore new ideas or even brainstorm potential jobs well-suited for your skillset or degree," said Google.

Google first announced that Gemini Live was coming during its I/O developer conference earlier this year, where it also said Gemini Live would be able to interpret video in real time.

And following the announcement, Gemini starts rolling out Gemini Live in English to its Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android phones.

Having an AI that is baked directly into the Android operating system can translate to privacy issues.

Google reassures users that "your personal information is protected and private."

"With your permission, Gemini can help you connect your relevant personal data with all the valuable knowledge that Google has organized and made accessible to provide just the right help you need. For example, Gemini can help create a daily workout routine based on your personal trainer’s email, or use your resume in Google Drive to write a work bio."

Google seems to suggest that by using Gemini Live, users have less vendor to rely on.

"Only Gemini can do all of this with a secure, all-in-one approach that doesn’t require hand-off to a third-party AI provider you may not know or trust," said Google.

Google said this because Gemini Live uses what it calls the Gemini Nano.

This AI that powers the chatbot runs on the edge, bringing the multimodal AI model to be able to process user queries directly inside the phone.

What this means, "your data never leaves your phone for some of the most sensitive use cases," said Google.

But if data needs to be sent to the cloud, Google assures that "it lives within Google’s secure end-to-end architecture, keeping your information safe and private."

The AI trend is going no where but up, and embedding an AI directly into an operating system is going to happen sooner than later.

In Google's case, the company is having a significant advantage over rivals like OpenAI, Microsoft or some others, due to how it holds a huge control over the Android ecosystem.

For Google, having an AI that runs locally inside Android is a huge investment, particularly because rival Apple is getting ready to publicly debut the highly-anticipated Apple Intelligence.

Read: AI-Powered Devices Should 'Empower You To Be Able To Do Things You Couldn’t Do Otherwise