What you need to know
- Google’s chief product officer for Home, Anish Kattukaran, highlighted another update for Gemini’s voice assistance.
- The latest “major” patch focused on the Gemini’s latency for user commands, slashing it by ~30% to ~40%, which means a quicker, snappier experience.
- A previous Gemini for Home update in March had a strong focus on automations and expanding Nest-Yale lock support.
Google’s Home got another AI-focused update on the way for users, with the company seeking improvement for its error rate and more.
Google’s chief product officer for Home, Anish Kattukaran, posted another update on social media about what consumers can soon expect (via 9to5Google). According to Kattukaran, Gemini for Home is receiving an update for “voice assistant latency.” This “major” update reportedly slashes the AI’s latency by ~30% to ~40%. Kattukaran says this latency change primarily targets the most common user voice requests, such as telling the AI to turn off their lights.
This latency update has seemingly affected the AI’s error rates. The post on X (formerly Twitter) claims that Gemini for Home’s error rates have dropped “significantly across the board.” In short, Kattakaran says interacting with Gemini in Google Home should feel snappier and much more responsive.
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User comments in the thread on X about the update mention that the old latency issues hindered Gemini. One user states the slower response times made Gemini feel more like a “gimmick instead of a real control method.” Another mentioned they would have to wait 10 to 15 seconds just for Gemini to respond to turning off the lights.
Kattakaran says this major update’s rollout has concluded, meaning users should notice this upgraded experience on their devices.
A smart home March
(Image credit: Android Central)
Last week also brought a huge Gemini for Home update to smart home users. Its goal was to build on the ecosystem’s automations, while also expanding Nest’s Yale lock support. Google added more automation starters for users. Now, users can create automations for arming their security systems and more for devices plugged in or docked. Another update targeted room-level commands.
Google dared to fix issues with Gemini when given commands for a singular home device. If the user (following this update) were to tell the AI to turn the lights off in a specific room, Gemini should only target that item, not every device in the kitchen or bedroom.
Android Central’s Take
I’m pretty sure the point of AI, in regards to the smart home space, is to be useful. Latency is one of those dealbreakers. As people said on X, they would wait around for far too long after giving the AI a command before it actually acknowledged and did the thing. It’s almost like having slow internet (which I hate with a fiery passion). It ruins the flow, and makes you want to just go do it yourself. Google’s brought this in for common commands, but I’d love to see this latency update expanded across the aboard. We’ll probably get there eventually.
