Google’s AI-powered Gemini model has been swiftly making its rounds, overthrowing Google Assistant on handheld devices and Google’s smart home products. Now, Gemini has found its way to Google TVs, and the result is a more conversational voice assistant.
Gemini Will Soon Be the Voice of Google TV
Unfortunately for Google Assistant, Gemini is coming in to take its place on Google TVs. One day ahead of CES 2025’s official start, Google’s The Keyword announced that the company would be integrating its “Gemini models to make interacting with your TV more intuitive and helpful.”
One perk of Gemini that Google often touts is its ability to understand and respond to more natural language. Hence, you can be more chatty with Gemini when asking about streaming content on Google TV. While the now outdated Google Assistant requires more precise terminology, and is somewhat limited in what types of questions it can answer, Gemini can handle naturally flowing conversations and complex queries.
The update will also negate the need to say “Hey Google” before a request.
For example, if I wanted to browse series similar to Hulu’s The Bear, I could say something like, “I’m really liking The Bear, but I think for my next show I’d like something with hour-long episodes.” It may not be the most streamlined request, but Gemini should theoretically understand me.
Google TVs equipped with Gemini will also be able to support questions unrelated to content, such as general knowledge topics. So if you find yourself wondering why the sky is blue, you can feel free to ask your Google TV that now, too.
Beyond a Conversational Voice Assistant
According to Google, an updated voice assistant is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this new Gemini integration on Google TVs. The company claims that:
The Gemini model on Google TV also enables you to do other things like create customized artwork with the family, control your smart home devices while your TV is in ambient mode and even get an overview of the day’s news.
The mention of smart home devices suggests that we can probably expect more Gemini integration for those Google products. In November 2024, Google started to roll out a few Gemini features geared towards Google Home devices, such as an AI-enhanced camera search.
With the Gemini update rolling out to select Google TVs “later this year,” Google could become the one to beat in the smart TV sphere. After all, competing AI models like Apple Intelligence still leave much to be desired, and so far Gemini has a decent track record of making daily tasks more convenient. Imagine leveraging Gemini’s memory feature to recall your content preferences across streaming apps, keeping your recommendations fresh and unbiased—as unbiased as any Google product can be, anyway.
