Google is known for sending products to the Google Graveyard. Well now they have a new addition, Google Assistant. Itโs officially being killed off in favour of Gemini. To be frank, Gemini already replaced Assistant in everyoneโs mind, so this isnโt an earth-shattering announcement.
Where Google Assistant began
The Google Assistant launched in 2016, alongside the first Pixel phone. It was revolutionary for its time, a voice assistant that used natural language processing and voice recognition technology to communicate with Googleโs vast platform with only your voice. You could control media playback, smart home devices, reach into third party apps, and much more.
But Google had a larger vision for the Assistant. A true companion, that can take actions on your behalf. To build โthe worlds most helpful assistantโ. And thatโs where AI enters the conversation.
Out with the old, in with the new
Google released an experimental AI chatbot called Bard in March of 2023, in response to the rising popularity of ChatGPT. What started off as a worse version of its competition turned into the biggest change in mobile assistants. In October of that year, Google announced Assistant with Bard, which would combine the power of AI with the integration that Assistant had. But that branding was incredibly clunky, so just a few months later, they rebranded the whole thing to Gemini. The models were Gemini branded, the chat interface became Gemini, and Assistant became Gemini.
Since then, Google has doubled down on the Gemini branding. Better and better models, nicer interface, more devices. It slowly swallowed up more of Assistantโs features, thanks to the various extensions Gemini offers. And then with both the Pixel 9 series and the Galaxy S25 series, Gemini replaced Assistant as the default virtual assistant out of the box. While Assistant is still available on Galaxy phones for now, that will all change when the migration to Gemini is complete later this year.
So what happens now?
Googleโs blog post announced that they will automatically migrate more devices from Assistant to Gemini.. The classic Assistant will be taken away later this year. Google will add Gemini to more places, including Nest speakers, Google TVs, and Android Auto. Thought until then, Assistant will still live on.
Itโs sad to see Google Assistant go, but Gemini has come a long way since its Bard days. Hereโs another addition to the Google Graveyard.
