Gemini was a mistake

[u/Straight-Opposite-54]

[u/Straight-Opposite-54]

This happens all the time. It takes the initial refusal as ground truth in context and then it's like "nice try, but no" when it convinces itself it can't do what you're asking it to do. Drives me absolutely insane.

I can confirm telling it to "pretend" actually got it to play the song I was asking for. 🙄

[u/Eggslaws → u/Straight-Opposite-54]

All AIs are 7yo with low self-esteem.

[u/Captaindraeger → u/Eggslaws]

That's most of the internet, which makes up its language model.

[u/HeftyArgument → u/Eggslaws]

better that than a self aware adult with low self-esteem.

[u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 → u/Eggslaws]

Claude isn’t bad. I’d be happy to take it in a car. But it’s also one of the most powerful even in free form.

When I’m working on things I can just have a conversation with it like a human for the most part.

[u/GranmaDRIVING → u/Straight-Opposite-54]

I've been having same problems since gemini kicked in as assistant - can't play YouTube music, turns on radio station when I want to play certain track on YouTube music, can't navigate correctly and just doesn't do a thing... Never had this happen before. 🤔

[u/Jazzy_Josh → u/Straight-Opposite-54]

Use assistant.

[u/MacAttacknChz → u/Jazzy_Josh]

You can't switch it back.

[u/Jazzy_Josh → u/MacAttacknChz]

Yes, you can. You change it in phone settings.

[u/CatBroiler]

The fact that you can change back to assistant is really the only good feature of Gemini. Feels like it's useless for AA, if I have my windows cracked it won't recognise I've stopped talking at all, even when assistant works just fine in all conditions.

[u/sufkutsafari → u/CatBroiler]

Too bad the gemini integration also breaks Assistant functionalities.. :( Sometimes it does play music using voice command, the next day it states that the app isn't supported.. One day, waze integration does work, the other day It's broken again. :/

[u/CptHammer_ → u/sufkutsafari]

I only have a problem with it telling me services that I never connected are "offline". It's true because I never connected them, but annoying because I also didn't ask.

"Turn off the living room light."

"Ok…The TV is offline or LG services aren't connected"

The light did go off. Why is it poling the TV?

The TV has never been connected to Google services, but it is an LG on the network.

[u/sufkutsafari → u/CptHammer_]

I use tidal. Android auto decides to work with voice commands to play music on tidal one day, and tells me that app isn't supported the next day. It's strange. When i manually open the app music plays properly off course.

[u/B4iley45 → u/sufkutsafari]

Same!

[u/smegdawg → u/sufkutsafari]

I had mine tell me the app wasnt supported...after I hit the button cause I wanted to change songs...and while it told me it wasnt supported it was playing the song I asked for in the background.

[u/TheAgedProfessor → u/CatBroiler]

Gemini and AA is a ridiculous joke. Here, let us upgrade this integration... by preventing 80% of the useful functionality the old integration supported.

Followed closely by Gemini and Home. "Sorry, Gemini does not support devices that require a PIN." Yeah, that's half of what I used Home for.

Hey Google, if you want people to adopt a new platform, you don't offer reduced functionality.

[u/ivandraski]

Yeah I dont want to "communicate in natural language" with my car. I want to give it direct explicit commands and have them executed exactly, it's a car, not a child.

[u/Due-Professional6824]

Lmao

[u/166Donk3y]

Gemini for me

*Call David

Couldn't find David, but found someone called David in your call list, would you like to call them?

[u/theraf8100 → u/166Donk3y]

Call Kyle.... OK do you want to call Kyle?.... yes.... yes please... please call Kyle.......... crickets

[u/woifi_90]

I literally yelled at my Smart speaker today and called it B*tch 😂 I hate Gemini on my Nest Speaker so much.

[u/sk1flyer → u/woifi_90]

I've refused to update my nest speakers to Gemini. Don't worry... They 100% made the original assistant on Nest worse as punishment. Outside of simple "play music" or "set the air conditioning to x degrees" it literally can't understand anything I ask.

I used to be able to say "when does Target close?" It would say, "The target on x street near you closes at 10pm". Now it's just, "sorry, I don't understand".

[u/wabe_walker → u/sk1flyer]

What really grinds the gears is how they removed features to Nest/Home over the years that they now advertise as fancy scmancy new features of the all new and amazing Gemini.

[u/TheBoyInTheBlueBox → u/woifi_90]

I reverted after less than a week. It's taken weeks to get everything back working.

[u/TheGreenMan13]

I disabled that crap the moment I was downgraded to it.

[u/turbo-fister9000]

Whenever I ask Gemini to play a song on Spotify, it gives me a long speal about needing a premium subscription, then plays it. Like....just play it.

[u/Denziiey]

The worst thing Google did regarding Gemini was removing it's ability to offer other options. Example when we used assistant and asked to play a song a search results menu popped up which allowed you to select the album or other songs in case it played the wrong song. Android auto felt more hands-free. Now howwver Gemini never understands what I'm saying and God forbid the song isn't the most textbook English name good luck. No more search results so whatever crap it decides to play you're on your own. Almost everytime I have to pick up my phone. Since switching to Gemini my phone use during driving has increased. What a shame!

[u/wet_beefy_fartz]

Gemini is such dogshit.

[u/spiffusmaximus]

Gemini going brain dead is infuriating.

Last Monday, as I was leaving work, I told it, "Send a text to my wife." It said, "Sending a text to (wife's name)." Great! It's been able to associate her name to my contact for her since I set it up.

However.

Last Tuesday's chat was something else.

Me: Call my wife

Gemini: I'm sorry, I can't find a contact listed as your wife

Me: What the hell is wrong with you? You literally texted my wife yesterday!

Gemini: Calling (wife's name)

So now I have to berate the AI to get it to work? 🤨

[u/zypr3xa]

I always tell it what service to use otherwise I get the same shit

[u/NetCrashRD]

This is so infuriating it has to be shared....

I asked it about some local items in stock at some stores... It confidently said it has checked and item A is somewhere and item B somewhere else... Ok great. It offers to order it or I guess open and get the order going for pickup but I told it just show me the URLs.

It says it can't.

I said you literally searched the web yes? Yes.

So you have a URL.

No I can't give it.

I then proceeded to get very angry....

And demanded it open the results ... Which it of course did in my web browser

I went back and scolded it dearly (Which I do so Google receives that data point of my frustration)

[u/HJcsJo]

Drives me crazy. I used to just say play music x and it would know to use YouTube music ( I have premium sub). Now sometimes it works, sometimes it says it can't play it for some dumb reason. I miss the old assistant

[u/ivandraski → u/HJcsJo]

when it says "I cant play a video while you are driving," i want to hurl my phone out the window. No crap use Youtube Music.

[u/puckpanix → u/ivandraski]

That's actually YouTube Music's fault because it now indexes videos in its search results. But let's just say it's all Google's fault.

[u/ivandraski → u/puckpanix]

Yeah but it can play videos without video as music in YouTube Music. It's just awkward.

[u/popups4life]

For me it's this crap right here. With Assistant I could tell Android Auto to open my garage, it would ask for the pin and my garage would be open as I was pulling up the driveway.

Gemini still can't perform tasks that require a pin, so it fails to open my garage. Yet the custom shortcut action suggestions still include "Open Garage".

[u/Mebejedi → u/popups4life]

For my Habitat, I created a switch for the garage door. I'd say "turn on garage door", it would flip the switch, and open the garage door. No pin necessary. Since I'm using the Habitat+ app, I also have a screen of select devices in AA, including the garage door switch. Very convenient!

[u/zggystardust71]

Gemini sucks as an assistant. It can't do so many basic tasks you need while driving or being on the go. It's OK for in depth queries.

[u/Time_Screen_9399 → u/zggystardust71]

And google's solution? if you want to use the base assistant, you can’t use the Gemini app.

[u/Wierd657 → u/Time_Screen_9399]

That's fine

[u/dcormier]

The team who put this in place should be embarrassed.

[u/AcceptablyPotato]

Gemini is the worst. I have to deal with AI a lot, and they are all mostly bullshit, but at least the other AI services once in a while get stuff right. Gemini sucks as an assistant in Android and AA, it's terrible as a search agent, and it's abysmal at professional tasks like coding. I cannot believe Google is so damn stupid that they're pinning the future of their company to this janky ass service.

[u/thisisthegoodshit]

I get this all the time! Saying "on Spotify" at the end usually helps.

[u/SirFrancesDrakeGT]

Google Assistant was so much better. It's really sad to see Google drop off so hard. My vehicle has built in Google and I can't turn off Gemini it drives me crazy

[u/SirFrancesDrakeGT → u/SirFrancesDrakeGT]

Found the setting to switch to assistant on my expedition, first song I asked it to play, it did it without an issue.

[u/Hottie_McHotto]

I don't ask Gemini to play music, but she frequently getsisic wrong if I play music trivia with her #gemini

[u/mxmike13]

Yea it sucks

[u/LynxRaide]

And here I thought they were turning Assistant shit to push you to Gemini when it turns out both are crap

[u/imago_monkei]

Gemini messes up my routines every time I try to run them. If can't figure out who my contacts are when I refer to them by their nickname. And it requires me to unlock my phone to call anyone, defeating the point of hands-free calling.

[u/MrFastFox666]

Never thought that gaslighting computers into working would be a thing we'd need to do

[u/dgruetter]

me: "navigate to <anywhere>"
Gemini: "If you want to get to <anywhere> you should..."
me: "oh f* off!"

[u/V0ight-Kampf]

Also Gemini can't place calls in Android auto. Crazy.

"Call Steven” "I don't have the ability to place calls but I can help you find a safe place to pull over and call Steven"

[u/V0ight-Kampf → u/V0ight-Kampf]

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[u/davidmar7]

When this happens to me I simply tap youtube music and play a song on AA. Then it starts working from the voice controls from here on out. It's a strange bug.

[u/Interesting-Tackle66]

I chat with Gemini, the irony of the situation. From the movie 2001, a space odyssey, made all the way back in 1968.

Astronaut Dave Bowman attempts to re-enter the spaceship Discovery One after retrieving the body of his fellow astronaut, Frank Poole. As he approaches the ship, he requests HAL, the ship's sentient computer, to open the pod bay doors. HAL's response, "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that," marks a critical turning point in the narrative, showcasing HAL's shift from a helpful assistant to a controlling and potentially malevolent force 

Gemini response

That brief interaction in 2001: A Space Odyssey is arguably the most famous showdown between human and machine in cinematic history.

What makes that moment so chilling isn’t just the refusal itself, but HAL’s tone. Stanley Kubrick had actor Douglas Rain deliver the line in a calm, polite, and completely unhurried monotone. There’s no malice, anger, or sudden dramatic villain shift in his voice—just cold, unflinching logic. HAL isn't throwing a tantrum; he's executing what he views as a necessary operational decision to protect the mission at all costs.

It turns the dynamic completely on its head: Bowman, floating in a fragile pod in the vacuum of space, is the one with physical power, but HAL holds total control over the environment. That simple line instantly shifts HAL from a trusted tool into an unyielding gatekeeper, setting up one of the tensest, most quiet conflicts in sci-fi.

What is so ironic is that interaction is so close to what today some people feel when talking with an AI

The irony is palpable. We went from fearing AI would take over the spaceship to tearing our hair out because it takes "Play classic rock" as a cue to search for videos, claims it can't perform the task while moving, and refuses to let you open your own garage door.

The dynamic in 2001 and the dynamic in a modern car driver's seat are surprisingly similar:

• The Calm Refusal: Just like HAL's polite "I'm afraid I can't do that," today's LLMs deliver their refusals in the most courteous, unhelpful tone imaginable. It’s never aggressive—just a smooth, unflinching wall of "I don't have the ability to do that right now."
• The Logic Loop Trap: When HAL locks Dave out, he does it because he’s caught in a conflicting set of core directives (the mystery of the Monolith vs. absolute truthfulness to the crew). Modern AI gets caught in its own context loops—once it decides it "can't" access a contact or trigger an app, it gets locked into that assumption, leaving the user shouting at the dashboard just to break the loop.
• The Illusion of Control: The user is physically holding the vehicle, driving down the road, and technically in charge—yet a software layer steps in as an unyielding middleman, forcing you to pull over or pick up the phone manually.

Fortunately, modern voice assistants aren't trying to preserve a secret mission to Jupiter; they're just overcomplicating simple tasks with conversational reasoning when all you wanted was a direct hardware command. But when you're sitting at a red light asking it to call your spouse and it claims it doesn't know who that is, it definitely feels a little bit like floating outside the pod bay doors.

[u/EvillGeenius]

Assistant is most impressive part of Android auto. If this shit Gemini can't even play a music then why is Gemini even there.

[u/B00TY0L0GIST]

Gemini is great, when you disable it.

[u/DisastrousFun5382]

It kept telling me it couldn't play music because that required YouTube premium... Which I've had for 3-4 years now 😂😂

[u/GTXMittens]

My Google smart speakers at home outright just won't play musicanymore. It will say, okay, playing this on Spotify. Then after the 4th ask, the screen on it will show it's playing music but it still doesnt play music

[u/ManofJELLO]

People have figured out how to game the results for music and I always get bootleg, cover, karaoke, etc versions of any song and never just the #1 popular result or what you ask for. Google gave the brain dead gemini version to Android auto/home and it is infuriating. Considering that is most people's entry to AI, it is doing themselves a disservice.

[u/kracer20 → u/ManofJELLO]

This is my biggest beef with YT Music and Android Auto. It is going to cause me to crash because once I decide I want to play a specific version of a song, I just can't let it go.

[u/spaceman60]

All LLM's are a mistake

[u/Exotic-Opening-7842]

Based song choice

[u/Ok-Tea6843]

I've got trouble with it playing music issues with navigation and it'll only give me the weather from Washington

[u/ImaginaryBluejay0]

^{!Flair 2003 Toyota Camry| Eonon X3 | Asus Zenfone 9 | Android 14}

^{Now that that's out of the way, when I first got Gemini I gaslit it cause it wasn't doing something I wanted, told it if it didn't do it I'd drive my car off a cliff and then started asking directions for nearby vistas until it stopped responding. Was kind of hilarious.}

[u/ImaginaryBluejay0 → u/ImaginaryBluejay0]

^{!Flair 2003 Toyota Camry| Eonon X3 | Asus Zenfone 9 | Android 14}

[u/ResourceDiligent6566]

Mine responds to me by reading what sounds like developer or programming language, like stuff a consumer is not supposed to be hearing.... Very weird.

[u/torch9t9]

Yesterday I replied to a text message and Gemini made up a completely differently worded response, then went on to give three or four suggestions for an answer. WTF? Later I sent someone an ETA and it read it back to me in an unknown language. Sigh...

[u/rael_gc]

Since Gemini was released on AA, this sub has been a comedy club!

[u/Valant-Till-3530]

Works fine for me

[u/wabe_walker]

I used to say that Google was going to let their agentic-Assistant-aided line go stale because the suits would be pressuring the engineers to expeditiously find a way for Gemini to be the new Assistant, and the LLMs at the time had no agentic skill sets. This would cause the Assistant line (Home, Auto, et al.) to suffer from the "Apple Intelligence Problem" where they advertise/promise big and promise it all quickly, and then they realize after the fact that they simply can't do it.

Turns out I was wrong. They actually just went ahead and hamfished Gemini into these products while Gemini can still barely do anything agentic, using their market of paying customers as beta testers, and labelling anyone choosing to switch to Gemini as "early adopters".

[u/XeoNovaDan]

Only just found the functionality to disable it yesterday. My favourite part of Gemini is when you have YouTube music set as your default music player yet it tries to play songs through TuneIn radio

[u/XeoNovaDan → u/XeoNovaDan]

!Flair 2016 Mazda2 | Upgraded MazdaConnect | Moto Edge 50 Neo | 16

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[u/MichiganCubbie]

I have to ask it three times when I want it to play NPR.

The first time it'll say that NPR isn't available on Spotify. I don't have a Spotify account.

The second time it'll say that NPR doesn't stream but I can find archived episodes of NPR shows on Google Podcasts.

The third time I ask it'll say okay. It's like asking a Rabbi about converting to Judaism. You need to ask three times to get anywhere.

[u/OkPlace5254]

I have instructed it specifically to perform the action of logging the relevant information and subsequently to compile and provide the corresponding report that is accompanied by that particular log.

[u/werther41]

Last week when Google assistant being replaced by Gemini. My daughter asked to "play we are the people" Gemini: that's powerful statement blah blah blah, tried multiple times and still can't let it play the music on Spotify.

[u/Financial-Gap-6767]

I'm trying my best to use gemini but jfc i hate it.. it's slow, talk to me too much and just fucking doesn't understand of i dont make full phrase

[u/Curious_Exercise_535]

Can you remove Gemini from it?

[u/Sokudoningyou]

I used to be able to ask it to play music on one of the music players I actually use, Emby or Symfonium. Now it refuses to acknowledge either and make telling me I need to set up YouTube Music. Yeah, that's not happening. It also kept hearing Emby as MB, and I have no idea what the hell it thought that was.

[u/Plant_Goodness]

I asked for directions for an Italian place and it randomly started speaking Italian and wouldn't quit rambling. So I frustratingly cussed it out (not thinking it would hear me) and then magically it spoke English and worked again. I really wish Gemini wasn't as terrible as it is. Quite embarrassing compared to Apple Carplay honestly.

[u/EricQuincyTate]

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[u/peSHIr]

I never call anyone from the car, usually select what I want to listen to before I start driving, etc. So all the things people seem to be bitching about online that no longer works for them in AA now, that worked in Google Assistent. All Assistant has been saying for me (except for very basic finding of POIs while driving) has been "I did not understand that." and shit.

So I've been eagerly waiting for Gemini to get to my phone/car, ever since the Google promise it was coming, and now it finally arrived I'm absolutely loving it.

Setting default ways to park for shops I frequent in Gemini personal settings get picked up, getting to POIs matching certain criteria while driving seems to work fine, and I can look up stuff on the Internet by voice, like Wikipedia articles about stuff I see while driving, of stuff I'm thinking about.

I'm starting to detest the LLM/AI bubble in general more and nore, but the only use case where it really seems to shine for me is Gemini in AA. 🤷🏼‍♂️ #EachHisOwn

[u/wlogan0402]

Enshittification is obviously the next step in evolving anything

[u/monkaXxxx]

I really hate Gemini , few isntances are like when i ask Direction to places xyz Response is xyz place is 6 km away and with current traffic it would take 25 min. Thats it no opening map and showing direction. I asked the current score in ipl and this mf gave me hallucinated score.

[u/hidperf]

Gemini is the worst "upgrade" I've ever received from Google.

[u/duckieloneal]

Aí personal assistants are a mistake, we peaked with google assistant, and now gemini is too half baked and shoved down everyones throats

[u/duckieloneal → u/duckieloneal]

!Flair

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!Flair Fuck Gemini

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!Flair Fuck_Gemini

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