Google is keen to shove Gemini, Google’s take on a generative AI akin to ChatGPT, into seemingly everything it can. And why wouldn’t it? Google is reported to have spent $191 million developing Gemini Ultra alone, as reported in 2024.
Gemini inside a television streaming device seems like an excellent use of the technology, though. Google surely thought so. It announced on May 13 that Gemini is coming to TVs with built-in Google TV later this year, beginning with TCL TVs (ones that already integrate Google TV).
The strangest thing, though? Google’s own Google TV Streamer won’t get it.
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AI in general has been invading everything. The tech world moves in cycles of buzzwords. It was NFT after it was blockchain, after they shoved Bluetooth everywhere it didn’t below, after nobody would shut up about the Internet of Things.
And that only takes us back through 2020. Gemini as an assistant within a television streaming device, however, could make sense. The voice assistants that run within streaming devices, from Alexa to Roku to Google Assistant to Siri, are somewhat dumb.
Sure, they were impressive last decade, but now when people are firing up ChatGPT (or Gemini) to answer all the various questions of life, they look dull by comparison.
“With Gemini on Google TV, you can ask for action movies that are age-appropriate for your kids, and get the best recommendations,” says Google in its press announcement. “Beyond just entertainment, it can even help your kids explore their endless questions about the solar system by answering questions and pulling up the perfect YouTube video to learn more.”
It’s a strange move to not put it on Google’s standalone streaming device, and Google hasn’t said why. The Google TV Streamer, which takes over from the Google Chromecast as a streaming device, only just launched at the end of September 2024.
Google hasn’t explicitly said it won’t come to the TV Streamer, but its silence doesn’t bode well. As for when you can expect Gemini to pop up within your TV, Google only says “later this year.”
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