Google introduced the Gemini AI model by making a remarkable innovation in the world of artificial intelligence. This new model can currently be experienced for free within the Bard chatbot under the name Gemini Pro. Additionally, Pixel 8 Pro users can use AI suggested text replies on WhatsApp and a version of Gemini on Gboard in the future.
Currently, only a portion of Gemini is available. Future releases are expected to include multi-modal capabilities that process multiple input forms and produce outputs in different ways. For now, only the text-based version has been added to Bard.
Gemini is currently only available in English, but Google plans to offer support for other languages soon. Like Google’s previous creative AI updates, Gemini is not available in the European Union for now.
The Gemini Pro update for Bard is available for free, despite its paid-sounding name. On ChatGPT, you can access older AI models for free, but you have to pay a monthly subscription fee to access the newest model, GPT-4. There isn’t much information yet about future plans for Gemini. Google has hinted that a further improved model, Gemini Ultra, could be released in 2024 and could be used within Bard Advanced, a chatbot originally developed. No subscription plans have been announced yet, but for comparison, the monthly subscription fee for ChatGPT Plus, which includes GPT-4, is $20.
How to access Google’s Gemini Pro?
Already have a Google account? Using Gemini within Bard is as simple as visiting the website in your browser and logging in. Google does not grant access to Bard to users who are not willing to create an account. Those using a Google Workspace account may need to switch to their personal email account to try Gemini.
Remember that this is all technically an experiment right now and you may see some bugs in your chatbot responses. One of Bard’s current strengths is its integration with other Google services when it works. For example, you can add the @Gmail tag to your command to have the chatbot summarize your daily messages, or explore topics with videos with the @YouTube tag. Our previous Bard chatbot tests showed potential for these integrations, but there are still many issues to solve.
So how is the expected Gemini Ultra different from the currently available Gemini Pro model? According to Google, Ultra is described as the “most capable mode” and is designed to handle complex tasks including text, images, audio, video and code. Gemini Nano, a smaller version of the AI model, is currently available on the Pixel 8 Pro for WhatsApp replies.