Google has officially confirmed that its classic Google Assistant will be retiring later this year, and Gemini will take up the mantle of default assistant app on Android. In a blog post about the big change, Google said that the classic Google Assisstant will no longer be available on most Android devices or for new downloads.
The company also confirmed that tablets, cars and other devices that connect to the phone, such as headphones and watches, will also be upgraded to Gemini. The tech giant also confirmed that it will be bringing Gemini to other home devices such as speakers, displays and TVs.
In a release about replacing Google Assistant with Gemini, Brian Marquardt, Senior Director, Product Management, Gemini app wrote, “When we launched Google Assistant in 2016, natural language processing and voice recognition technology unlocked a more natural way to get help from Google. Nearly a decade later, we’re in the midst of another platform shift — this time, generative AI is transforming the way we interact with technology.”
“To continue our work of building the world’s most helpful assistant, we’ve reimagined the experience with AI at its core to make Gemini your personal, AI-powered assistant. While our expectations for what an assistant can do are rapidly changing, the mission remains the same.” the senior executive added.
Google Assistant is not going for everyone:
Google also announced that the Google Assistant will continue to be available for devices running Android 9 or earlier, and lacking at least 2GB of RAM.
Over the past year, Google has shipped Gemini as the default assistant on many new devices from OnePlus, Vivo, Samsung, and others, giving a hint of what was to come. However, users still had the option to switch back to Google Assistant if they didn’t like Gemini, but Google is now fully committed to the AI chatbot and willing to take the leap of faith.
Google says it will announce a confirmed date later this year when Google Assistant will no longer be accessible.
