The digital assistant landscape is changing dramatically, and Google is leading that change by replacing its long-standing Google Assistant with Gemini, its AI-powered alternative. According to Google, the classic Google Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices later this year, with the transition already underway for millions of users.
I've been watching this shift with interest, and Google's move is not the least bit surprising. Google Assistant, launched back in 2016, was revolutionary for its time, using natural language processing to help users interact more naturally with their devices. But as AI technology has advanced rapidly, especially with generative AI models, Google Assistant has started to feel somewhat limited in comparison.
With Gemini, you're getting a significant upgrade in capabilities, and I'm particularly intrigued by how Gemini can integrate context from my digital life to provide more helpful responses.
- Advanced reasoning abilities - Gemini new models break down complex problems into steps, allowing it to handle multi-step tasks that would have confused Google Assistant. For example, you can ask Gemini to "Plan a dinner party for 8 people with dietary restrictions including two vegetarians, and someone who's gluten-free, then add the ingredients to my shopping list and find recipes that would work," and it can break this down into discrete steps – all from a single request.
- Deeper personalization - Gemini can connect with your Google apps and services (starting with Search) to deliver more tailored responses. For example, it can reference your recent food searches when recommending restaurants.
- Multimodal understanding - Unlike Google Assistant, Gemini can process images, files, and even YouTube videos during conversations. You can show it a plant and ask if it would survive in your yard, or link to a cooking video and ask it to help you double the recipe.
- Deep Research capabilities - Perhaps most impressively, Gemini can now function as a research assistant, searching dozens of websites on complex topics and delivering findings in easy-to-read reports with source links.
- More natural conversations - With features like Gemini Live, users can have free-flowing conversations that feel more natural than the command-based interactions typical with Google Assistant.
Read more: AI Chatbots 101: How to Get the Best Results from AI Assistants
Potential Concerns and Privacy Considerations
While these new capabilities are, of course, impressive, they do raise legitimate concerns for me.
One of my biggest worries is about accuracy. AI models like the ones powering Gemini are known to sometimes "hallucinate" or generate plausible sounding but incorrect information. In my own work, I’ve seen Gemini make up specs for products and quotes from executives out of thin air. Conversely, I've come to trust Google Assistant to simply tell me when it can't help rather than making up wrong information. It remains to be seen whether Gemini will maintain that level of restraint or if it will be more prone to confident-sounding errors.
Enhanced personalization also means Gemini will be accessing and analyzing more of your data than ever before. If you opt-in, Gemini can connect with your Google apps and services (i.e., Search) to deliver more tailored responses. While this data was already accessible to Google, having it actively used to build a personalized profile for AI interactions makes the privacy implications more tangible.
While Gemini will work better with more data, the choice of how much to share should always remain yours. Here are specific steps you can take to maintain better control over your privacy as Gemini rolls out:
Manage What Data Gemini Can Access
Be selective about which Google services you allow Gemini to access. Not every app needs to be connected. Unfortunately, there is no single place to manage Gemini's access to apps, so you'll need to go to a few different places to tackle this one.
- Review app permissions within the Gemini app: Within Gemini, tap your profile picture > Apps and revoke unnecessary access to Google productivity apps (Gmail, Calendar, Drive), Messages, Phone, Google Home, WhatsApp, Google Maps, and more.
- Review app permissions in specific apps: For some apps, like Google Photos, you’ll find Gemini permissions in the individual app Settings menu.
- Review app permissions in phone's settings: For third-party apps, you’ll find all of the connections by going to your phone’s Settings > Your data in the Assistant.
Control Your Conversation Data
- Delete your conversations: You can delete your chat history by going to Gemini app’s Settings > Gemini Apps Activity. There you can delete recent activity and set your conversations to automatically delete after a set amount of time.
- Turn off conversation storage: In Gemini, go to Settings > Gemini Apps Activity and tap the “turn off” button to prevent Gemini from saving your conversations. Note that Google saves your chats for 72 hours regardless of whether storage is on or off.
Limit Google Data Collection
- Audit your Google Activity Controls: Visit your My Google Activity page to see all the data Google has collected about you. In the Web & App Activity tab, uncheck "Include Chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices that use Google services," and in the YouTube History tab, uncheck “Include the YouTube videos you watch” and “Include your searches on YouTube.”
- Turn off Location History: In the same My Google Activity page, find "Timeline" and pause it to prevent Google from building a detailed map of your movements.
Looking Ahead
This change reflects the broader transformation happening across the tech industry as AI becomes more capable and integrated into our devices. Just last month, I saw Amazon roll out its smarter (and also impressive) digital assistant, Alexa+.
As a long-time user of Google services, I'm approaching this change with cautious optimism. Google has indicated that the rollout will happen gradually over the coming months for mobile devices. Home devices like speakers, displays, and TVs will also get a new Gemini-powered experience, though details are still forthcoming.
[Image credit: Suzanne Kantra/Techlicious]
