Gemini's voice chat mode is finally here, with a Pixel ecosystem benefit in tow

Google’s Gemini app is finally gaining the real-time voice chat feature that the company teased earlier this year. Dubbed Gemini Live, it may seem similar to ChatGPT’s voice mode that has been available since last year. Both allow you to have long, back-and-forth conversations on just about any topic and are a big upgrade over digital assistants of the past. However, Gemini Live’s big draw is that you can interrupt it mid-response, allowing for a more natural conversation. You don’t have to wait for the chatbot to finish talking or tap the screen to interrupt it or change topics.

Gemini Live will offer ten voices to choose from and will be exclusively available to Gemini Advanced users for now.

To soften the blow, however, Google is offering a year’s worth of Google One AI Premium if you buy the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, or the Pixel 9 Pro Fold models announced today. The subscription will otherwise set you back $20 per month, although it does include 2TB of cloud storage and other standard Google One benefits alongside Gemini Advanced.

When Google announced the Gemini AI model late last year, it shared a video demonstrating the chatbot engaging in back-and-forth voice conversations while also identifying visual cues through a live camera feed. However, a Google spokesperson later admitted that the video was partially fabricated — Gemini was fed text-based prompts and still images for the demo instead of voice input and a live feed. Fast forward nearly a year, however, and Gemini Live finally delivers on Google’s original promise of real-time voice chats.

Notably, the newly launched Pixel Buds Pro 2 also feature a deeper Gemini Live integration. Specifically, you’ll be able to use the Hey Google wake word on the buds to initiate a Gemini Live session even if your phone is locked and in your pocket. This is a big upgrade over the current Assistant-like behavior where Gemini will only respond to a single command when invoked via the wake word.

Google told us that the hands-free invocation requires a “deeper integration with the Pixel ecosystem,” indicating that you will need the Pixel Buds Pro 2 connected to a Pixel phone for a hands-free experience from start to finish. With other devices, you may have to unlock your phone and manually initiate a Gemini Live session.

It’s worth noting that OpenAI is also working on an “advanced” voice mode for ChatGPT that offers a similarly natural conversation experience as Gemini Live. However, that too will remain locked behind the company’s ChatGPT Plus subscription for the foreseeable future.