Google Assistant is loosing features on its way of being replaced by Gemini

Google has officially announced that it will be phasing out its veteran virtual assistant, Google Assistant, in favor of the new AI-driven Gemini. The goal is to provide users with a more advanced and natural interaction experience following the latest advancements in artificial intelligence. Still, most Android users don’t see it like that, at least yet.

What will happen to Google Assistant?

In the coming months, Google will transition mobile users from Google Assistant to Gemini. By the end of this year, the legacy Google Assistant will not be accessible on most mobile devices or for new app store downloads. Devices lacking the minimum system requirements to support Gemini will retain their existing Assistant features for the time being.

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.

Gemini integration is not limited to just phones. Google wants to bring this AI platform to tablets, automotive systems, and other connected hardware, such as headphones and smartwatches. Additional plans are already in the works to bring Gemini to home devices such as speakers, displays, and TVs, with more details on that end being promised in the coming months.

Gemini is built to comprehend natural language better, giving users a more natural and smoother interaction. Google admits that Gemini might not give perfect answers right away but stresses that it will continually improve and get quicker over time.

But Gemini’s capabilities go far beyond the Google Assistant, and it can also provide an entirely new kind of help. Features like Gemini Live for free-flowing, multimodal conversations and Deep Research, which transforms Gemini into a personal research assistant, are only possible with AI — and we’re just getting started.

Users aren’t very happy with these changes

This transition reflects a broader industry trend of integrating advanced AI technologies into consumer products. That being said, there has been a degree of user disappointment at discontinuing favorite features associated with Google Assistant, indicating a mix of expectation and apprehension in adapting to the new system.

I use a few of the features on the chopping block, such as broadcast to family group and commute to work.

They keep making it more and more useless without any real benefit

People will adapt, and Google knows that, but until Gemini can do everything that Google Assistant can, most Android users won’t fully embrace these new changes. Hopefully, Gemini will evolve and do an even better job as an assistant than “the original” Google Assistant.