Google today announced an upgrade to the Gemini for Home service with an “Continuous Conversations” feature. Continuous Chat allows a user to have a natural discussion with the Gemini platform without prefacing each follow-up request with the “Hey Google” prompt. The microphone will remain active on a smart device for a few seconds after the Gemini AI assistant provides its response. During this window, the hardware lights will flash or glow, indicating that you can continue chatting normally with the chatbot without needing a wake word. Gemini should maintain context as the conversation progresses, which should allow it to deliver the desired information more quickly without requiring the user to repeat key details.
The feature is rolling out today in all Gemini for Home voice assistant languages and supported regions. Continued conversations must be manually enabled in the Google Home app via the settings menu under “Gemini for Home Voice Assistant.” Google said Gemini should be able to distinguish follow-up questions to the chatbot from other conversations happening in a room, but it should be interesting to track the success of this given the past history of voice assistants listening unintentionally.
The continuation of the conversation was a option under the Google Assistant platform, but its availability was more limited. Google has prepared Gemini for Home as replacement for the Google Assistant platform since the fall.
This article was originally published on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/google-now-lets-you-have-full-conversations-with-gemini-for-home-160000511.html?src=rss
