Google’s Gemini AI could see one of its first implementations in a Google product by way of a replacement for the venerable Google Assistant. According to The Information, Gemini AI will be used on future Google Pixel devices and other Google hardware via a new assistant called “Pixie” that will apparently “evolve into a far more personalised version of the Google Assistant.”
Pedantically, Pixie can’t evolve at all, it’s code and even if you draw the very thin distinction between re-used code as though it were DNA, it would be an interesting branding move for Google, if nothing else.
Android users – and anyone with a Nest device or Google Chromecast – knows what Google Assistant is and what it can do.
Making it smarter – presuming that Pixie, like other AIs isn’t prone to hallucinations – is a good move, but changing the name or making it a Pixel-specific feature feels like a step in the wrong direction.
There’s not a lot of detail about what Pixie will do, and of course it’s just a single-source rumour for now, so Google’s branding and naming decisions might not be set in stone.
Then again, Google does love to kill off products, so maybe Google Assistant is living on borrowed time.
Hey Google Assistant: Have you considered smothering Google Pixie so you can keep your sweet gig?