I tried Gemini Live, and it was so good that it was kind of scary

At today’s Made by Google event, Google took the wraps off a slew of new hardware, including four phones in the Pixel 9 series, the new Pixel Watch 3, and the Pixel Buds Pro 2. However, one could argue that hardware played second fiddle at the launch, with Gemini being the real star of the show.

One new feature Google launched within the ever-expanding Gemini toolbox is Gemini Live. This promises a much more conversational version of the generative AI system. Essentially, instead of issuing a command to Gemini and then hearing a reply, you have natural back and forth. This allows you to interrupt it, clarify what you mean through natural language, or just, you know…chew the cud to kill some time. It’s very similar to OpenAI’s own version of this technology within GPT-4o, which hasn’t fully rolled out to the public yet.

During the launch, Google showed off how this works on stage through a live demo. But, as usual, I wanted to try it for myself to see how it works in a less controlled environment. While I wasn’t able to take a Pixel 9 and do whatever I wanted with it quite yet, I did get to have a conversation with Gemini Live that Google did not prescribe to me. Unexpectedly, Gemini Live was really good…almost too good for me to be comfortable with it.

Trying out Gemini Live

Before I get into my experience, let me set the scene. After the Made by Google livestream ended, Google ushered us journalists into what it calls “the sandbox,” which is essentially various demo areas for the newly announced products. Two of these demo areas involved Gemini Live, one using the new Pixel Buds Pro 2 and another using a Pixel 9 Pro. My colleague Ryan Haines did the Pixel Buds Pro 2 demo, and he said he was made slightly uncomfortable with just how natural the Gemini Live conversation actually was. He said it was a little too “uncanny valley,” but overall, it was very impressive.

Meanwhile, I tried out the demo that used the phone. You can see part of my experience in the video at the top of this article. In this booth, a Googler who works on the Gemini team walked us through how Gemini Live works by having a conversation about throwing a dinner party for friends. Their conversation was totally natural, with plenty of back-and-forth and even jokes. Gemini didn’t stumble even once. After his demo, I asked if I could try it, and he showed me a list of possible topics I could ask about. But I wanted to have a conversation of my own to have an experience Google didn’t totally plan for. I chose video games.

I started by asking Gemini to suggest a new video game to play. I told it the game I’m playing right now — Horizon Forbidden West — and said I want something like that. Nearly instantly, Gemini started giving me suggestions. However, it didn’t just start listing out games — it told me the games and even referenced the aspects of those games that would appeal to someone who enjoyed HFW. It did so in the same way a friend would suggest a game to you through natural, human-like language.

At one point, it mentioned Elden Ring. As it continued its spiel, I interrupted it to say that Elden Ring was too difficult and that it should suggest something easier. Without missing a beat, it brought up Ghosts of Tsushima and started explaining why that one might be better for me than Elden Ring.

The demo went without a hitch. There were no hallucinations, and Gemini communicated with me in a way that felt organic. It almost felt like I wasn’t communicating with an algorithm.

Using Gemini Live: My takeaway

There were two notable things I gleaned from this Gemini Live conversation. First, the speed and cadence of Gemini Live’s voice made it seem like I was talking to a real person. It didn’t have that robotic tone of Google Assistant — it felt much more present and real. This made the information easier to digest while also feeling integral. You know how when you ask Google Assistant for a factoid, and it goes off and starts telling you all sorts of junk you don’t care about? That didn’t happen here. It felt like a human was answering my question, a human who understands what is essential info and what can be left out.

Second, it was very accurate. Obviously, this question wasn’t a super difficult one, but there are plenty of games Gemini Live could have recommended that one might think would be a good fit for an HFW player but aren’t. Monster Hunter games, for example, seem like games HFW players would like, but there’s actually very little overlap between them. The games Gemini Live did recommend — The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Elden Ring, Ghosts of Tsushima, and Horizon Zero Dawn — are all games someone who loved Horizon would also probably enjoy.

If we had had the time, I could see this becoming a full-fledged conversation. I could have asked more about Ghosts of Tsushima and maybe told Gemini more about what I love about Horizon Forbidden West. We could have just sat there and talked games for a while. That wouldn’t have felt weird. But that, in itself, is weird. There isn’t a human being coming up with these answers — it’s just lines of code piecing everything together. It was only after our chat ended that I started to feel weird about it.

Regardless, I am excited to put Gemini Live through some more extreme tests. How personal can it get? How long can the conversation go before it starts hallucinating or just outright crashing as it did on stage during the Made by Google event (I felt so bad for those presenters, that must have been so mortifying)?

We’ll be able to dive deeper into Gemini Live soon, once we put the Pixel 9 phones through their paces. Until then, let me know what you think in the comments below. Are you going to talk with Gemini Live? What are you going to talk about?