Google Upgrades Home with Gemini 'Live Search'

The new 'Live Search' function is powered by Google's multimodal Gemini models, which continuously monitor and interpret camera feeds. This allows users to ask conversational questions about live events, such as "Is there a person at the front door right now?". The feature is part of the Google Home Premium Advanced subscription, which costs $20 per month or $200 per year. This update directly addresses user frustrations with notification fatigue from repetitive motion alerts caused by things like trees or shadows. The rollout was announced by Google Home's Chief Product Officer, Anish Kattukaran, and is initially available to users in the Gemini for Home early access program. This program has been instrumental in identifying and fixing issues that arose during the transition from Google Assistant to Gemini. Fixes deployed in this update tackle specific, long-standing user complaints. For instance, a command like "turn off the lights" will now only affect the current room, not every light in the house. Gemini will also now use a device's manufacturer data to understand its function, even with custom names, and will use the home address set in the app for more accurate local responses. The underlying AI has been upgraded to more recent Gemini models, improving the quality and reliability of answers to general questions. Google has also reduced the instances of Gemini prematurely cutting users off while they are speaking, a common complaint from early access users. These changes are part of a broader effort to make the voice assistant more conversational and less prone to misunderstanding.