The original promise of smart speakers was to revolutionize our daily lives by shifting tasks from manual input on our phones and computers to simple, hands-free voice commands. However, they largely failed to live up to this promise. In fact, some smart speakers, including those in Google’s Home ecosystem, have even seen a significant decline in reliability.
This decline raises the question of what, if anything, tech companies are doing to reverse the trend. Google’s answer is to bring its Gemini AI into the smart home. Unveiled this week, Gemini for Home upgrades the conversational experience in Google Home smart speakers, displays, doorbells, and cameras with AI, while also introducing smarter media controls, improved alerts, and more intelligent search capabilities.