With Google giving the Gemini AI touch to nearly all of its products and software suites, its time for Google TV. At CES 2025, the tech titan revealed the latest version of the Google TV operating system, aiming to transform the user interaction experience with the device, thanks to Gemini AI integration.
To start with, two major enhancements are coming to Google TV. First, users will no longer be required to use a remote to give voice commands to the smart TV. The second feature is ‘AI summarization,’ (aka News Brief) which will provide short news briefs.
Google is set to release these new Gemini AI capabilities later this year. This update – packed with several AI features – will be available for both new and existing (in a limited manner) Google TV devices. Under these AI upgrades, the Alphabet-owned company is aiming for natural voice conversations, improved content search capabilities and deeper YouTube integration. However, the highlight of this upcoming update will be the integration of Gemini into its Google Assistant voice-control system.
For the AI interaction feature, users will not need a remote to interact with the television. The company plans to equip the new devices with far-field microphones. By capturing audio from a distance, users will be able to give voice commands to the TV without picking up the remote. This feature is similar to Google Home.
However, this is not all. In addition to the microphone, the upcoming Google TVs will also feature a proximity sensor. With the ability to detect nearby objects, these sensors will enable Google TVs to sense when users are approaching the TV and display personalized widgets like weather updates, news briefs, and more.
Google is also adding Gemini-generated News Brief. To provide users with a news summary on a requested topic, the AI-powered Google TV Assistant will search for the topic across the internet and the video headlines posted by popular YouTube channels. Notably, earlier in May 2024, Google launched the ‘AI Overviews’ feature to provide AI-generated summaries on Google Search.
Meanwhile, at CES 2025, the company also announced more features of the upcoming Gemini-powered Google TVs. Users will be able to create customized artwork with their families. In addition, they can control smart home devices while the TV is in ambient mode.
This will be interesting to see how many of these features will come to existing Google TV devices, as some of them require hardware upgrades as well. In the meantime, reports suggest that Hisense and TCL are lined up as launch partners for these new features. Talking about Google’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, ‘Gemini AI’ saw a total of 42 million active users in October 2024.
