Google has launched a beefed-up Artificial Intelligence (AI) search and real-time chatbot, heightening competition in the fast-evolving technology sector.
Through its AI-powered assistance tool Gemini, Google on Tuesday unveiled ‘Gemini Live’ which is a mobile conversational experience that will allow users to have free-flowing conversations with Gemini.
“Gemini Live begins rolling out today in English to our Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android phones, and in the coming weeks will expand to iOS and more languages,” said the multinational in an update.
In Kenya, subscriptions to Gemini Advanced are billed at a monthly rate of Sh3,700.
In the new offering, users will be able to go live on the platform and have a conversational chat with the AI assistance tool, including asking questions just as it happens on written-text tools such as ChatGPT.
“It’s like having a sidekick in your pocket who you can chat with about new ideas or practice with for an important conversation,” notes Google.
In yet another breakaway and advancement from existing tools, Gemini Live has been crafted to be hands-free, meaning that users will be able to keep talking with the Gemini app in the background or when the phone is locked enabling conversations to proceed on the go just as it happens on a regular phone call.
To make speaking to Gemini feel even more natural, Google has introduced 10 new voices for users to choose from enabling them to pick the tone and style that works best for them.
The new rollout adds to the flurry of unveils that global netizens have been treated to in recent weeks by multinational tech firms as the AI buzz continues to heat up and make inroads worldwide.
Just last week, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance unveiled a new text-to-video tool as it sought to venture into the new-age innovation space currently dominated by Microsoft and Google.
Dubbed Jimeng AI, the tool enables users to create short videos based on written prompts that are descriptions of their ideas in their natural language.
During the same week, WordPress owner Automattic launched a tool named ‘Write Brief with AI’ that’s designed to help bloggers write more clearly and tersely by flagging write-ups that use more-than-necessary words to describe something.
The tool can also tell users if their language lacks confidence or in cases where they use overly complex words that might alienate some readers.
Earlier in June, Meta-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp launched its first AI-driven ad-targeting programme for business accounts aiming to present enterprises with the possibility of optimising ad delivery to users who are most likely to engage.
The Meta platform also introduced a new AI chatbot to answer business inquiries directly in a chat as it sought to convince businesses to outsource their communications to automated tools.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also launched an AI-powered digital health promoter prototype that’s equipped to issue enhanced empathetic responses to health-related queries.
The tool named Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health (SARAH) can engage users 24 hours a day in eight languages on multiple health topics across all smart devices.
It boasts the ability to support people in developing better understanding of risk factors for some of the leading causes of death in the world, including cancer, heart disease, lung disease and diabetes.
International digital commerce group Alibaba has lined up plans to set up an AI-enabled conversational sourcing engine that is poised to facilitate the global business-to-business (B2B) sourcing process for small to medium-sized businesses by enabling quicker and easier searches for potential business partners and products.
A work trend index annual report published jointly by Microsoft and LinkedIn in March this year showed that the global use of generative AI had nearly doubled in the preceding six months, with 75 percent of global knowledge workers using it.
“Already, AI is being woven into the workplace at an unexpected scale. 75 percent of knowledge workers use AI at work today, and 46 percent of users started using it less than six months ago,” reads the report.
