Google Assistant is dead, long live Gemini for Home

For years, talking to Google in your house has felt a bit like dealing with a very literal-minded robot. Well, that’s all about to change, as Google is rolling out “Gemini for Home,” a massive AI upgrade that replaces the Google Assistant. The best part? It’s coming to every speaker, smart display, camera, and doorbell Google has made in the last decade, along with the new Google Home app.The goal is to move from rigid commands to natural conversation. Instead of just being a tool, Gemini aims to be a collaborative partner. The rollout begins this month via an early access program that all users are able to join by following the below steps:

• Open the Google Home app (version 4.0 or higher).
• Tap your profile icon, then “Home Settings.”
• Select “Early access” to join the queue.

All Google Home and smart speaker devices from the last decade (listed below) will be eligible for this upgrade, and you’ll get a notification when the new features are ready for you to try, but the key upgrades include more natural conversation, smarter media searches, and intuitive smart home control, like asking it to “turn off all the lights except the office.”

• Natural Conversation: Have back-and-forth conversations without repeating “Hey Google” or the subject every time.
• Smarter Media & Chores: Ask for things vaguely, like “play that song from the summer camp movie” or “add ingredients for Pad Thai to my list.”
• Intuitive Smart Home Control: Tell it to “turn off all the lights except the office” and it understands the exception.
• Gemini Live: A hotword-free chat mode for brainstorming recipes or planning a party.
• AI Cameras: Your camera now understands what it sees, giving you alerts like “a delivery driver dropped off a package” instead of just “motion detected.”
• Home Brief & Ask Home: Get quick summaries of your camera footage or search it by asking questions like, “Did I leave the car door open?”

Why this is a huge deal for the smart home

However, it is important to note that Google very strongly stated that the goal is not to paywall features that we previously had for free. The features under the paid tier are simply those that were under the old Nest Aware subscription (which this is replacing), or brand new advanced ones.

I have a house full of Google speakers and displays, and my relationship with the Assistant is… complicated. Some days it’s great, other days it feels like it’s actively misunderstanding me for fun. The promise of Gemini fixing this is incredibly appealing. The AI camera features, in particular, sound like a massive upgrade over the current Nest experience, turning a simple security camera into a genuinely smart device.But I’m hesitant about that subscription fee. I’m already a Google AI Pro subscriber, so it won’t cost me anything extra, but I can’t help but ask myself if the subscription will be worth it for those that don’t already have it. Of course, it all depends on the execution, and this subscription is basically just replacing the existing Nest Aware plan. I’ll be signing up for the early access program this month to see for myself, and I’m hoping Google nails it. If Gemini can deliver on even half of these promises, it could finally make the smart home feel smart.

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