To clarify its offering of AI tools, Google has decided to rename its chatbot Bard to Gemini, in reference to the language model it uses. He will have the right to his own application, but also to a paid subscription.
We quickly got confused with the names of Google’s different tools, services and products! With the integration of Gemini Pro, one of the company’s most powerful large language models (LLM), into its Bard chatbot a few weeks ago (see our article), the Internet giant has chosen to provide a little clarity and consistency to its artificial intelligence tools. In a blog post published on February 8, 2024, he announced that he would abandon the name Bard for his chatbot and rename it Gemini. “Bard has been the best way for people to experience our best-in-class models first-hand. To reflect the cutting-edge technology that powers it, Bard will now be known simply as Gemini.”, explains the Mountain View firm. By going to the chatbot’s web page, we see that the name change is already in effect. A message specifies that “all the features you already love are still here” and that”“They will continue to improve in the Gemini era”. Gemini Pro will also gradually roll out to other tools, such as the Google search engine, Google Ads and the Chrome browser. Finally, Google took the opportunity to announce an application and the launch of Gemini Advanced, the paid version of its chatbot. Okay, did you follow everything?
Google Gemini: the chatbot has the right to its own application
Let’s start from the beginning. Gemini is a large language model (LLM) called “multimodal”, that is to say capable of processing several data sources of different nature, such as text, audio or images (see our article). This versatility allows him to tackle complex tasks in various fields, such as mathematics, physics, and even computer programming. It is available in three versions: Gemini Nano – a lightweight version to operate locally on a smartphone –, Gemini Pro – a more versatile and advanced version, to carry out many tasks – and Gemini Ultra – the most powerful version, for carry out particularly complex tasks. It is the second option which is integrated here in the chatbot formerly known as Bard, replacing the old PaLM 2 language model in order to offer more performance and reliability. Bard therefore takes the name Gemini, which can be accessed by going to https://gemini.google.com/app.
Unlike ChatGPT or Copilot, Google had never published a Google Bard application on the Play Store or the App Store. The company is taking advantage of the name change of its chatbot so that Gemini has its own application, as it announced in a blog post. A page has also been created on the Play Store, but the application is not available in France at the moment and only works in English. Note that, on iOS, the Internet giant will deploy access to Gemini directly from the Google application in the coming weeks. The Android app allows you to set Gemini as our default assistant, which means it replaces the Google Assistant to respond to the famous “Hey Google”. A button at the top of the app also allows you to switch from Search to Gemini, which shows the importance that the latter will become for the company! Throughout Google’s existence, the search engine has been its most important product, by far!
Gemini Advanced: a paid subscription for more powerful AI
Google has decided to take inspiration from its competitors Microsoft and OpenAI, which respectively offer the paid subscriptions Copilot Pro and ChatGPT Plus to their users, in order to access a large, more powerful language model and many additional functions. Its chatbot will therefore accommodate the Ultra version of Gemini, within a subscription called Google One AI Premium. For $19.99 per month, it provides access to Gemini Advanced, which includes the Ultra version of Gemini, which will make the chatbot “much more capable of performing highly complex tasks such as coding, logical reasoning, following nuanced instructions, and creative collaboration”.
But that’s not all ! Subscribers have access to 2 TB of storage space – an envelope usually offered, alone, at 9.99 euros/dollars per month in the One Premium offer –, the usual advantages of Google One – VPN, additional functions in Google Photos, longer calls in Google Meet, etc. – and the upcoming access of Gemini in the Gmail environment and in Google’s application suite. Currently, the subscription is only available in the United States, and Gemini Advanced only supports English queries. However, no date has been given for France.