Apple is already under massive fire for falling behind in AI, and Google’s Gemini smart home plans are about to make that a whole lot worse.

Not only is Siri lagging dramatically behind generative AI chatbots in smartphone-based tasks, but Google is about to make Apple’s assistant look really dumb when it comes to smart homes …

Google recently announced its Gemini for Home replacement for Google Assistant in smart home devices.

Compared to Google Assistant, “Gemini for Home” is said to be “more powerful and easier to use” thanks to “advanced reasoning, inference and search capabilities of our most capable models.” The “Hey Google” hotword is unchanged, but Google emphasizes how “rigid commands” are being replaced by “more nuanced or complex requests.” 

It promises the ability to issue commands like “turn off the lights everywhere except my bedroom” and “play that song from this year’s summer blockbuster about race cars.”

It will also beat Siri to something Apple has long promised: the ability to string multiple commands together like “Dim the lights, and set the temp to 72 degrees.”

Google is additionally aiming to blur the line between smart homes as we understand them today and an intelligent assistant with more comprehensive abilities. Examples the company provides include:

“Add the ingredients to make an authentic Italian lasagna to my shopping list”

“Set a timer for perfectly blanched broccoli”

“I have spinach, eggs, cream cheese and smoked salmon in the fridge. Help me make a delicious meal.”

Google says that Gemini for Home will replace Google Assistant on existing speakers and displays as well as new ones. We already knew that the rollout would begin with an early access program sometime next month, and the company has today announced that it will begin on October 1.

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