Gemini, Google’s new family of artificial intelligence (AI) generative models, will soon be able to access Google Calendar events from Android phones.
According to 9to5Google, Calendar events were on Gemini Experiences Senior Director of Product Management at Google Jack Krawczyk’s “things to fix ASAP” list of what Google would work to add to Gemini to make it a more capable digital assistant.
Users of the Gemini app for Android devices may now anticipate Gemini to reply to voice or text requests such as “Show me my calendar” and “Do I have any upcoming calendar events?”. When 9to5Google tried this the week before, Gemini responded that it couldn’t fulfill those types of requests and queries, which was especially notable given that those types of requests are rather prevalent among competing (non-AI) digital assistants such as Siri or Google Assistant. However, when the same prompts were attempted this week, Gemini launched the Google Calendar app and completed the tasks. It appears that if users would like to enter a new event using Gemini, they must tell it something like “Add an event to my calendar,” to which it Should then prompt the user to enter the information manually using voice commands.
Going all-in on Gemini
Google is definitely making headway on establishing Gemini as its exclusive all-in-one AI offering (which will eventually replace Google Assistant). It has a long way to go before it can accomplish that, with users requesting features such as the ability to play music or amend their shopping lists through Gemini. Another big barrier for Gemini to overcome if it wishes to gain popularity is that it is only available in the United States for the moment.
The competition for the finest AI assistant has recently heated up between Microsoft with Copilot, Google with Gemini, and Amazon with Alexa. Google has lately made significant gains in its ability to compress larger Gemini models so that they can run on mobile devices. These more complicated models appear to have the potential to significantly improve Gemini’s capabilities. Google Assistant is well-known, and this adds another feather to Google’s hat. I’m hesitant to gamble on any of these digital AI helpers individually, but if Google keeps up this pace with Gemini, I believe its chances are strong.
