Google has made a significant change to its AI portfolio by renaming Bard to Gemini and launching a paid version of the chatbot. This move represents not just a change of name but also an extensive enhancement of Google’s capabilities and offerings in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Below, we outline the key points of this update and discuss its potential implications.
Key Aspects of Google’s Gemini:
- Name Change and Rebranding: Google has renamed Bard to Gemini to reflect the name of the underlying language model introduced two months ago. This change is currently applicable primarily in the EU, where the tool is available under the new name.
- App Introduction and Google Assistant Replacement: In the US, a new Gemini app will be introduced that can replace the Google Assistant on Android smartphones, if users opt for it. The Google Assistant, however, remains unchanged on other devices like smart speakers and TVs for now.
- Integration into the Google App on iOS: For iOS devices, there is no separate Gemini app. Instead, the AI chatbot is integrated into the existing Google app, albeit initially only in the US.
- Multimodal AI Model: Gemini is Google’s most powerful and comprehensive AI model. It can understand and process various types of information, including texts, images, audio, videos, and programming languages. Google plans to integrate this model into a wide range of its products.
- Gemini Advanced: Google now offers Gemini Advanced, a more powerful variant of Gemini, which is, however, subscription-based. For 20 USD per month, users get access to Gemini Ultra along with 2 terabytes of Google Cloud storage and other benefits.
Implications and Significance:
This update underscores Google’s ambition to remain a leader in the rapidly growing market of AI technologies and to continuously improve and expand its products. The introduction of Gemini and the renaming of Bard are steps that highlight Google’s innovation and strategic direction in this area. By offering powerful AI tools and extensive cloud storage in one package, Google positions itself as a strong competitor against other providers like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The development and launch of Gemini illustrate the importance of AI technologies for the future of digital assistants and interactive technologies. It highlights the growing role of AI in our daily lives and how companies like Google are at the forefront of this development, offering innovative solutions that meet the needs and expectations of users.
Source: Futurezone