Gemini Live first look: Better than talking to Siri, but worse than I’d like

Google's Gemini Live AI chatbot outperforms Siri but needs quicker responses and more voice options.

: Google announced Gemini Live at its Made by Google event, enabling natural spoken conversations with an AI chatbot. Tested by TechCrunch, Gemini Live proves better than Siri or Alexa, boasting rapid responses and diverse voice options. Yet, it sometimes provides inaccurate information and struggles with conversational interruptions.

At the Made by Google event, Google introduced Gemini Live, an AI chatbot designed for natural spoken interactions rather than text-based ones. TechCrunch tested it and found Gemini Live superior in responsiveness and user experience compared to Siri and Alexa, responding to prompts in less than two seconds and offering ten human-like voice options.

For instance, Gemini Live effectively recommended a family-friendly winery with outdoor amenities, although it made errors like mentioning a playground that doesn’t exist nearby. Users can interrupt Gemini Live mid-sentence, a feature meant to control conversations, but this functionality is inconsistent, sometimes leading to overlapping dialogues.

Google restricts Gemini Live from singing or mimicking unauthorized voices to avoid copyright issues and lacks focus on understanding emotional intonation. Despite its current limitations, Gemini Live represents a step towards Project Astra, a multimodal AI model, hinting at future capabilities like real-time video understanding.

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