Quick Summary
Code in the latest Google app beta says "Your new AI assistant is on headphones". "You can talk to Gemini on earbuds," it also says.
We're expecting Google to release the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 imminently, and we're expecting AI to be a big part of the sales pitch: as we said back in July, "As we're talking about a Pro Google product here it's likely that the next Pixel Buds Pro will offer more AI integration with Google's AI." And now a new report indicates that that's exactly what Google is planning.
The report comes via 9to5Google's APK Insight, which is a kind of Sherlock Holmes for computer code: they investigate the code of newly updated Android apps and betas to see what surprises might be in store. And a new beta of the Google app reveals that you can "Your new AI assistant is on headphones" and that you can "talk to Gemini on earbuds".
What we know about Google's Gemini plans
This is the second time Google has indicated that Gemini is coming to its buds: back in February, an earlier beta contained the message "Gemini mobile app is working on expanding availability to make it accessible on your headphones".
And we know that Gemini is also coming to the Pixel Tablet, because the beta code also contains text including "Gemini is a new AI assistant on your tablet. Get help learning in new ways, planning events, writing thank you notes, and more."
What we don't know yet is how Google will be handling the switch from Google Assistant to "your new AI assistant", or how it's going to tailor Gemini for an audio-first format: on phones and other devices Gemini can be pretty verbose, but that's not ideal for on-the-go operations.
Google isn't the only firm aiming to bring AI to your eardrums, but Apple's plans to smarten up Siri appear to have been delayed: not only is Apple Intelligence exclusive to the US and likely to remain so for as long as Apple is battling with EU regulators, but it looks like it won't be ready for US customers when the iPhone 16 launches either.
