Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Should you depend on your cellphone’s digital assistant for automation and even simply hands-free management, you could have hesitated transitioning from the Google Assistant to Gemini. The latter developed a status for missing most of the Assistant’s options early on. Nonetheless, Google will solely assist Gemini going ahead and has even made it because the default assistant on the Pixel 9 collection. Fortunately, Google is bridging the hole between the Assistant and Gemini with “extensions” for Gemini that permit the chatbot to carry out helpful real-world duties.
With Gemini Extensions enabled, the chatbot can do all the things from managing your to-do record to making a music playlist primarily based in your present temper. And within the close to future, credible leaks point out that new extensions will assist you to ship WhatsApp messages and management your sensible dwelling. So with that in thoughts, right here’s what Gemini Extensions can do and which of them it is best to think about using to make your life simpler.
What are Gemini Extensions?
Because the identify suggests, Gemini Extensions give the AI chatbot entry to varied internet companies equivalent to Google Maps, YouTube Music, and Gmail. And whereas the official record is presently restricted to Google’s first-party companies, we’ve additionally heard rumors of Spotify and WhatsApp extensions within the works.
However why would you need an AI to work together with third-party companies and even Google’s personal internet apps? Merely put, extensions permit Gemini to entry personalised or real-time data. This ends in correct and grounded responses. Bear in mind when ChatGPT was criticized for hallucinating or responding with false data? Gemini avoids this by accessing data from exterior sources relying in your question.
Extensions permit Gemini to fetch data from the actual world…and your Google account.
For instance, Gemini can seek the advice of the Google Flights, Maps, and Inns extensions to piece collectively a visit itinerary that features precise journey instances, distances, and prices. Likewise, I’ve personally used Gemini to search for long-lost data buried inside obscure emails. With the proper extension enabled, you’ll be able to ask an open-ended query like “How a lot did my lodge in Tokyo price me final 12 months?” and Gemini will reply with an quantity inside seconds. This protects me the difficulty of opening the Gmail app, trying to find the proper e-mail, and scanning by means of the reserving affirmation.
That apart, the function is available in particularly useful when you’ll want to summarize lengthy YouTube movies. Each time I come throughout an attention-grabbing recipe video and not using a written model, I merely paste the YouTube URL into a brand new Gemini immediate and ask for a abstract. On Android, the Gemini cell app has deeper integration with the YouTube app. Merely tapping the “Ask about this video” chip (pictured above) permits you to ask follow-up questions with out leaving the YouTube app.
The most effective half about Gemini Extensions is that everybody can use it free of charge. In contrast to most of the chatbot’s newer options like Gems and voice chat, you don’t must shell out $20 month-to-month for a Gemini Superior subscription.
How you can allow and use Gemini Extensions
Every Gemini Extension might be toggled on or off individually, which lets you forestall the chatbot from studying your private information. As you’d anticipate then, the Google Workspace and YouTube Music extensions stay disabled by default — comprehensible as they grant Gemini entry to your emails, paperwork, and playlists. You’ll be able to navigate to Settings > Extensions throughout the Gemini app on desktop or Android and allow them manually. Most different Gemini Extensions like Flights and YouTube ought to already be enabled.
Utilizing Gemini Extensions is simple — you don’t want to specify a selected service in your immediate. A immediate like “Present me flights to Tokyo departing December 3 and provides me concepts of issues to do for a 5 day journey” will routinely invoke the Flights and Maps extensions. Gemini can even reference your present location to go looking flights out of your nearest airport. Should you’re pleased with the outcomes, you’ll be able to then output it to a spreadsheet with a immediate like “Create a spreadsheet itinerary for the 5 days”.
The most effective Gemini Extensions and how one can use them
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
With the fundamentals of Gemini Extensions out of the best way, which of them must you really use? The record is a bit sparse in the intervening time since you’ll be able to solely select from Google’s first-party companies like Workspace and YouTube. Nonetheless, right here is our rating of the perfect Gemini Extensions and when it is best to use them:
YouTube: With the YouTube extension enabled, Gemini can prevent from watching lengthy movies in case you’re quick on time. And in case you use the Gemini Android app, the “Ask about this video” function makes it much more handy. Whether or not you want a fast textual content abstract or a step-by-step written information, the YouTube extension can do all of it and will get our high suggestion.
Google Workspace: Given that the majority of us stay inside Google’s ecosystem, the Workspace extension is helpful when you’ve got 1000’s of emails and paperwork. As soon as enabled, the chatbot can reply questions like “How a lot did I spend on Uber journeys between January and Might 2024?” Likewise, you’ll be able to ask it to summarize lengthy paperwork — Gemini Superior shines right here with its considerably bigger context window that enables it to deal with 1,500 page-documents at a time.
Flights and Inns: Most different chatbots can not aid you plan a visit as totally as Gemini can with its Google Flights and Inns extensions enabled. I usually use each of those companies on my desktop, however the chatbot interface permits me to rapidly specify circumstances like “I want a daytime flight” or “inns underneath $100”.
Maps: The Maps extension could seem boring at first look — you should utilize it to ask Gemini for instructions to your nearest Starbucks however it doesn’t cease there. With a immediate like “Recommend the perfect locations to get claypot rice in Hong Kong primarily based on critiques,” it can save you your self a number of minutes of analysis. The chatbot even embeds a map on the finish of its response.
YouTube Music: Some time in the past, I wrote about how Google may infuse its music streaming service with generative AI to create a extra personalised DJ expertise. Sadly, the YouTube Music extension for Gemini doesn’t understand that dream. It may possibly seek for songs, artists, and playlists however I couldn’t get it to generate model new playlists or recommend artists primarily based on my listening habits.
These are the one Gemini Extensions presently accessible, however we’ve noticed references to imminent extensions within the Android app that may permit Gemini to put cellphone calls, dim your sensible lights, and browse messages from chat apps. We are going to preserve this record up to date with new extensions and their use circumstances as Google decides to launch them.
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