Gemini Live Surprise Free for Everyone: Here’s How to Access Conversational AI on Android

Google surprised everyone by announcing that Gemini Live is now free for all Android users. This feature, which enables continuous, two-way conversations with artificial intelligence, was initially reserved for Advanced subscribers. Now, however, all Android users will be able to experience an almost human dialogue with AI, opening up new possibilities for interaction.

Gemini Live is accessed via a new circular icon, located in the lower right corner of the Gemini overlay or in the full app. Once activated, the full-screen interface offers “Hold” and “End” buttons to control the conversation. Gemini Live continues to run in the background even when you exit the interface or lock your screen, and a notification lets you end your session or simply say “stop.”

At the end of each conversation, a text transcript of the questions and answers is saved in your history, allowing you to resume the conversation later. Google also introduced 10 new voices for Gemini, which apply to all interactions with the Assistant, offering a greater variety of tones and styles. Gemini Live does not currently support extensions to access Gmail, YouTube Music, and other apps, but those features will be added in the future.

But there is a but: Gemini Live is currently available in English onlyso the Conversational AI rollout will only happen on devices set to this language. To try it, you need to change your device settings.

In addition to Gemini Live, Google has also brought “Gems” — specialized AI models — directly into the Gemini Android app. These Gems, announced at Google I/O 2024, are specialized versions of Gemini’s AI, designed for specific tasks like learning, brainstorming, career guidance, text editing, and coding.

However, creating new custom Gems is not yet possible directly from the app. Users will need to visit the Gemini website to set up custom instructions, which can then be accessed from the mobile app. While some features like Gemini Live are free, access to Gems still requires a Gemini Advanced subscription.