- Early adopters are eyeing Gemini for the launch of the house
- Enable natural language prompts and queries
- Early access is limited by device and country at this time
Gemini for Home is official, and is now rolling out to those who have opted into the early access program and who live in the correct countries. Early adopters are already experimenting with the features available in the updated AI Smart Home, including ruthless pet monitoring.
This is the long-promised upgrade from Google Assistant to Google Gemini for Smart Home devices, meaning your requests and queries can be more complex and in more conversational language. In return, you get smarter answers, drilling down into details about what’s happening with your Google Home devices.
Although Gemini will eventually come to a host of different Google devices, dating back a full decade, right now you have to sign up through the Google Home app for early access. As seen by Android Authority, those early adopters are now seeing improved features appearing on their phones.
At this time, early access is limited to doorbells and cameras in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, with some features being taken care of. The details of the Gemini rollout can be somewhat confusing, and Google has now published a long list of answers to commonly asked user questions.
Was my dog doing something wrong?
Pretty cool Google Home Gemini from R/Googlehome
One of the updates Gemini brings with it (for free) is a new Ask Home feature: you can use natural language queries to check what your devices are reporting and get summaries of captured video events with details added by AI Analysis.
On Reddit, a user asked “Was my dog doing something wrong?” and they said yes, a black dog jumped on the counter at 7.36pm. It’s an example of the kind of detail Gemini can go into, and another example from Reddit shows Gemini identifying the colors and types of vehicles passing by.
This also extends to the new Home Insights feature, as you can see in this Reddit thread. Gemini recognizes that the school buses pass by and concludes that it must be school pick-up time. Bikes, people, squirrels and FedEx trucks are also recognized, handy if you want to know whether a delivery driver has visited or not.
It all sounds quite promising, although there are also many bugs reported. That’s to be expected from an early access program like this, and hopefully all the kinks will be fixed quickly, so everyone can get the Gemini for the home upgrade, perhaps in time for the launch of the new Google Home speaker early next year.
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