Did Google just steal Apple’s AI thunder, or has Tim Cook got an ace in his back pocket?

I’m sitting here basking in afterglow of all the new products Google just showed at its Made for Google event, where it launched a raft of new Google Pixel 9 phones, Google Pixel Watch 3 and Google Pixel Buds 2 Pro. While the new phones would normally be the stars of the show, this time they played second fiddle to the software that ran on them, specifically Gemini Live, it’s all encompassing AI digital assistant that’s baked right into the heart of Android 15.

Google demonstrated the best AI feature I’ve seen so far – the ability to talk to your phone and have it answer back, as if it were a human being. This is a next-level digital assistant and Gemini Live stole the show, despite a cringe-worthy moment when the live demo failed spectacularly, twice. Live demos at Google product launches have a long history of going badly, so I’m surprised that Google still continues to do them.

Here’s a demo of Gemini Live, which works this time:

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♬ original sound – TechRadar

Gemini Live lets you do more than just talk, too. Take a picture of a poster for an event and then ask Gemini if you’re free on that date to go and see the show, or take a picture of your fridge and ask it what you could cook with those ingredients, and it will come up with some helpful suggestions.

Of course, nothing in the AI world ever seems to be quite finished. Gemini’s most useful integration features are its ability to look in your Calendar and Gmail apps to answer really helpful digital assistant-style questions, like, “Can you remind me what Tim said about the bowling game next week?”. But these features have a ‘coming soon’ label applied to them. I’m sure they will arrive soon, but AI is slowly gaining a reputation for rocky rollouts. For instance, Bloomberg has already cast doubts on Apple’s ability to have Apple Intelligence fully functioning in time for the launch of the iPhone 16 this September.

AI is still struggling to find a valid reason to exist on our devices, but thanks to Google Gemini, the main benefit of AI is getting clearer and clearer. It’s all about fundamentally changing the way you interact with your phone. In comparison, the AI image manipulation features that both Apple and Google have showed off so far are impressive, but they feel a bit like gimmicks that you’ll try once or twice then forget about; good for product demos, but not much else.

When it comes down to who has the better AI, Apple or Google, we’ll only know that once the iPhone 16 launches and we get to quiz Siri beyond its beta versions. We know that Google has now set the bar very high for natural conversation with an AI, thanks to Gemini Live, but the killer feature that Apple could beat it on is the price. Apple Intelligence will be free to everyone lucky enough to own an iPhone 15 Pro or better, or a Mac with an M-series processor. Gemini Live is for Gemini Advanced subscribers only, and that’s $20 a month. So for once, Apple seems to be about to beat Google at its own game, by releasing a free service.