Your Google Home setup is getting its long-awaited Gemini upgrade soon – what to expect

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Gemini is replacing Google Assistant in Google Home.
• The new, more personalized assistant supports natural conversations and maintains context.
• Early access for Gemini at Home starts in October.

Get more in-depth ZDNET AI coverage: Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome and Chromium browsers.

Amid the launch news of Made by Google phones and other devices, Google is also upgrading its Assistant for smart home users. Gemini for Home will replace Google Assistant for Google Home customers, enabling more natural, informative, and efficient conversations for users.

Think of Gemini for Home as if ChatGPT became your smart home assistant. Instead of an “If this, then that” behavior or following simple commands one at a time, Gemini will be able to have longer, more natural conversations with you, letting you give it more complex prompts than simply “Turn on the living room lamp.”

Also: Google Pixel 10 Pro XL vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: I tested both Android phones, and here’s the winner

“Gemini for Home uses the advanced reasoning, inference, and search capabilities of our most capable models, making it both more powerful and easier to use than Google Assistant,” wrote Anish Kattukaran, Google Home’s chief product officer, in a blog post. “You still say, ‘Hey Google’ to get started, but your interactions will feel fundamentally new. Gemini will understand the context and get it done, and we’re replacing rigid commands so you can use more nuanced or complex requests, too.”

If you’ve ever used Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or Apple’s Siri, you’re likely familiar with how inefficient these virtual assistants can be. While they’re helpful, there’s still a lot of room for improvement for AI assistants. Thanks to generative AI, Google is hoping to step that up with Gemini for Home. 

Also: I’ve tested every major foldable phone on the market – here’s why Google is suddenly winning

The new Gemini for Home — or Gemini, for short — is built on Google’s most advanced AI models of the same name, making it smarter and more capable than Google Assistant. Essentially, Google is finally bringing its successful Gemini assistant to the smart home, upgrading your Google Home setup to work more intuitively than before. 

Here’s what that may look like:

With Gemini, you can use your existing speakers and displays to give your voice assistant commands to control your smart home, calendar, reminders, TV, and more. Google is rolling out both free and paid versions of Gemini for Home, though it is unclear what each option will include; advanced features may end up behind a paywall. Gemini for Home’s early access begins in October.

Also: Your smart home device just got a performance and security boost for free

While the upside of Gemini for Home is that your voice assistant will be able to handle complexity and be more of a contributing partner than a task executor, some users may feel uneasy about the prospect of Gemini learning from their data. It’s also worth noting that AI bots are imperfect, prone to making reasoning errors and misunderstanding commands. While Google promises that Gemini for Home will be much smarter than Google Assistant, users should be cautious of who is giving commands and what they’re asking to avoid unexpected results.

Gemini replacing Google Assistant is akin to Amazon’s launch of Alexa+, which is still in its early access stage, available to a limited number of users. Alexa+ uses generative AI, like ChatGPT and Gemini, to let users have natural conversations with more context and personalization.