Google is making a significant change to its voice assistant ecosystem, with plans to fully retire Google Assistant by the end of 2025, beginning with mobile devices. While phones and tablets will transition first, followed by cars, headphones, and smartwatches, the situation for smart home devices presents unique challenges that Google appears to be addressing differently.
Google’s Smart Home Transition Plan
Google Assistant currently serves as the core voice technology powering Google’s Home and Nest devices, as well as numerous third-party smart home products. Unlike with mobile devices, where Google has clearly stated that Gemini will completely replace Assistant, the company has taken a more nuanced approach regarding smart speakers and displays.
Google has indicated that smart home devices will receive a “new experience powered by Gemini,” language that suggests something different than the standard Gemini implementation being deployed on mobile devices. This deliberately ambiguous phrasing implies that Google may be developing a specialized version of Gemini specifically optimized for smart home use cases.
Why Google Needs a Different Approach for Smart Speakers
The current implementation of Gemini, while incredibly powerful for complex tasks, demonstrates significant weaknesses when handling the simple commands that are essential for smart speaker functionality. Unlike Google Assistant, which excels at basic tasks, Gemini often struggles with straightforward instructions.
For example, Gemini can generate detailed pasta recipes when asked, but may have difficulty executing a simple command like “set a timer for ten minutes”—instead offering an explanation of how to set a timer rather than actually setting one. This fundamental limitation makes Gemini, in its current form, poorly suited for smart home devices where direct execution of commands is crucial.
Core Smart Speaker Functionality at Risk
The typical daily use of voice assistants in smart home environments focuses on basic tasks rather than complex queries. Common uses include:
- Setting timers
- Adding items to shopping lists
- Checking weather forecasts
- Setting reminders
- Playing and controlling music
Gemini’s current difficulty with these fundamental commands explains why Google seems reluctant to simply port the standard Gemini experience to smart speakers. The company appears to recognize that smart home users need reliable execution of basic tasks above all else.
The Challenge of Adapting Gemini
Google’s use of the phrase “powered by Gemini” rather than simply announcing a direct replacement suggests an acknowledgment that Gemini requires significant adaptation before it can replace Google Assistant in smart home environments. While Gemini offers capabilities far beyond what Google Assistant can provide, it needs substantial fine-tuning to handle the core functions smart speaker users depend on.
An ideal implementation would combine Gemini’s advanced capabilities with Google Assistant’s reliability for basic commands. Smart speaker users don’t need lengthy explanations or cited sources—they need direct, accurate responses and execution of instructions.
Ongoing Improvements to Gemini
Google continues to invest heavily in improving Gemini’s capabilities. Recent updates to Gemini 2.5 Pro have reportedly reduced the occurrence of “hallucinations” (AI generating incorrect information), which represents a crucial step toward making the technology reliable enough for smart home use. However, these advanced features currently remain limited to Google Advanced subscribers.
For smart speakers to successfully transition to being “powered by Gemini,” Google needs to develop a version of the AI that responds appropriately to verbal commands without unnecessary verbosity. The current tendency of Gemini to provide detailed explanations works well for typed queries but is poorly suited to voice interaction scenarios.
Hardware Compatibility Concerns
Beyond the software challenges, there’s uncertainty about which existing smart home devices will be capable of running Gemini. The article points out that the 2019 Nest Mini was released only shortly after Android 9, which is the oldest Android version supporting Gemini.
If older smart home hardware lacks the processing power to run Gemini effectively, users may find themselves with devices that gradually lose functionality as Google scales back Google Assistant features. This creates potential for a situation where perfectly functional hardware becomes increasingly limited in capabilities due to software support decisions.
As Google proceeds with its transition from Assistant to Gemini, the impact on smart speakers remains somewhat uncertain. The company’s careful language around smart home devices suggests an awareness of the challenges involved in adapting Gemini for this context.
While Google has committed to providing a “new experience powered by Gemini” for smart home devices, the specific implementation remains to be seen. Users of Google’s smart home ecosystem will need to wait for further announcements to understand exactly how this transition will affect their daily interactions with these devices, particularly for those with older hardware that may not fully support the new AI technology.
