Google Rebrands AI Chatbot Bard to Gemini and Rolls Out New App Offering

On Thursday, Google revealed a big rebrand of its artificial intelligence chatbot and assistant, Bard. The program will now be called Gemini, matching the AI that powers the chatbot, and it will include a new app and subscription option, according to Reuters.

The new AI subscription tier is available as part of this revamp to cater to users who want better reasoning capabilities. They’ll get access to Gemini Ultra 1.0, which is Google’s most high-powered AI model. U.S. customers can subscribe to have access to Gemini Advanced for $19.99 a month, and this includes the Ultra 1.0 AI model. Subscribers will get two terabytes of cloud storage, which otherwise is a monthly cost of $9.99, and they will also soon receive access to Gemini in Gmail and Google’s productivity suite.

This innovation by Google is part of the company’s mission to compete with rival Microsoft and its partner OpenAI as well as to power up its AI efforts in order to compete for consumers who have several AI subscription options to choose from.

In Google’s announcement on Thursday, Google shared new ways consumers can access the AI tool. The company is rolling out Gemini on the Google app on iOS in the coming weeks, and Android users can “download the Gemini app or opt in through Google Assistant.”

Big tech companies such as Microsoft and Amazon have been highlighting their commitment to building out their AI agents and productivity functions, and during Alphabet’s earnings call last week, CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the company’s dedication to AI as well. He said he eventually wants to offer an AI agent that can complete an increasing amount of tasks on a user’s behalf. Some of these tasks are within Google Search. However, he said there is “a lot of execution ahead.”

Speaking about Google Assistant and Search on the earnings call last week, Pichai also said, “We will again use generative AI there, particularly with our most advanced models and Bard.” He added that it “allows us to act more like an agent over time, if I were to think about the future and maybe go beyond answers and follow-through for users even more.”

Sissie Hsiao, a vice president at Google and general manager for Google Assistant and Gemini, said on a call that the company’s Gemini changes are a first step to “building a true AI assistant.”