“Hey Google, set bedroom lamp to 50 percent.” Such stilted voice commands have been the stuff of smart home for years, but with Gemini for Home, Google is promising a smart home you can have an actual conversation with.
That idea—of a smart home that understands the big picture and can act with context in mind—underpins Google’s ambitious Gemini for Home plans, which it’s rolling out today following months of slow buildup.
The Gemini voice assistant is just one part of Google’s Gemini for Home pitch. There’s also new hardware, including a refreshed lineup of security cameras and an all-new smart speaker, along with a faster, streamlined Google Home app (more on the app in a moment) and a rebranded subscription plan (say goodbye to Nest Aware).
Gemini promises to make home automations much easier to create.
During a briefing prior to its big Gemini for Home reveal, Anish Kattukaran, director of product management for Google Home and Nest, painted the picture of a Gemini-powered smart home that can truly see and hear what’s going on in your household, as well as understand your intentions when you give it commands.
Of course, the proof’s in the pudding, and as Kattukaran himself emphasized, Gemini’s performance needs to be as reliable as that of its predecessor, Google Assistant (which has had its own reliability hiccups over the past several months). As anyone who’s ever fallen victim to a ChatGPT hallucination knows, asking an LLM to perform a task repeatedly and in a predictable manner is no small feat.
That’s why Google is plotting a slow phase-in for Gemini at Home, with an early access period beginning this month. Most existing Google smart speakers, displays, and security cameras will work with Gemini for Home, with the freewheeling Google Live chat mode (which lets you have lengthy back-and-forths with Gemini without the need for the “Hey Google” wake word) restricted to the Google Nest Hub, the Nest Hub Max, and the new Google Home Speaker.
Screenshots from the new Google Home app.
Of course, Google isn’t alone in its AI ambitions for the smart home. Amazon just revealed its own line of revamped Echo smart speakers and smart displays powered by Alexa+ (which has been in an early access mode for the past several months), while Apple is expected to eventually roll out new HomePod smart speakers powered by a AI-enhanced Siri (which has been delayed to next year, at the earliest).
We’ve already seen some of Gemini’s abilities in the smart home, including its ability to describe the action in video clips captured by Nest security cameras. But with help from the new Google Home app, Gemini will gain new abilities, such as delivering a “home brief” that summarizes the past 24 hours of your Nest video history.
You’ll also be able to ask Gemini questions about your home (such as “Is the front door locked?” or “What time did the kids come home”) or ask it to draft smart automations on the fly, using natural language (“At night, if the house is empty, make it look like someone’s home”), Kattukaran said.
Underpinning Gemini for Home is the new Google Home app, which—among other features—will boast 70-percent faster startup times, as well as 80-percent fewer crashes and better memory and battery optimization, according to Kattukaran.
A streamlined three-tabbed interface (Home, Activity, and Automations) lets you jump from device controls, activity feeds, and smart routines, along with one-handed gestures that let you swipe between broad device categories.
The new Nest cameras can attach names to familiar faces and describe what they’re doing in front of the camera.
The new app promises faster scrubbing of camera videos, as well as the YouTube-style ability to double-tap one side of a video thumbnail or the other to jump forward or backward in the clip.
In another change, the Google Home activity feed will include entries from connected third-party smart devices, not just Google’s own first-party cameras and gadgets.
“This [Activity] tab will now become the canonical history of your entire home,” Kattukaran said. “Anything that happens in your home that’s connected into your [Google Home] ecosystem, you see the whole history right here now.”
Sitting at the top of the new Google Home app is a Gemini-powered “Ask Home” chat box that lets you ask questions about or issue commands to your smart home, anything from “What happened today” or “Who ate the plants” to “Create an automation” or “Turn on the living room TV.”
Naturally, Gemini’s best smart home features, such as the home brief and AI notifications, will be locked behind a paywall, with Google Home Premium replacing the former Nest Aware subscription plans.
Gemini will still perform basic smart home duties (such as those once handled by Google Assistant, which is being phased out in favor of Gemini) for free.
This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers. Also, be sure to check our complete coverage of Google’s Gemini for Home rollout, including details on the new Google Home Speaker, new Nest Cams, and new Google Home Premium subscription plans.
