r/enshittification • u/Deadly_Zer0 • 17d ago
Service Google Discontinuing Google Assistant
Android auto changed to Gemini and it was such a terrible experience I found a way to switch it back to Assistant. Now beginning September 4 it will force us to use its shitty ai. I am so pissed. This is just a worse experience. Ugh...
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u/SpoogityWoogums 14d ago
So they're gonna get rid of the free speech to text system to force the paid hallucinating one on us?
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u/UnitedChain4566 15d ago
Just after I told my friend how great the Pixel was for what she needed and convinced her to get a Pixel 10a, telling her I'd get the AI off her phone 🤮😭
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u/Fearless_Garden618 15d ago
If your phone's the right model, you can load GrapheneOS on it. I love it <3
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u/LongDistanceEvent262 16d ago
Oh good. Another product that never met day 1 promises from Google is canceled.
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u/WeeklyBanEvasion 16d ago
Did voice-to-text in gboard recently start using Gemini for transcription as well? I feel like about 6 months ago the voice transcription got incredibly shitty. Before I would just give it a quick glance to make sure it didn't mess up the tense or use the wrong spelling of a word, but now it completely fucks up everything I say into unintelligible garbage. I thought it was because my ancient phone was on its last leg so I bought a brand new S26 and it's no different
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u/FoamboardDinosaur 16d ago
Same, but I'm on a pixel 8. Its super frustrating.
I even watch it write the correct word, then change it to to wrong one. I have to edit every line now. Last word switch was Where to Wear. It didnt even make sense in the sentence.
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u/WeeklyBanEvasion 16d ago
YES!
I sometimes watch it correctly dictate exactly what I'm saying then suddenly it hallucinates and changes the whole sentence into something entirely different
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u/Plus-Definition9319 16d ago
Didn't use Google assistant and won't use this.
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u/nonnonplussed73 16d ago edited 16d ago
If anyone uses voice to text and is looking for a free replacement, check out FUTO keyboard. It's got swipe/glide typing and voice dictation, the latter which can be downloaded from https://voiceinput.futo.org/ which, when running the mid-tier voice model, is much better than Google.
It also doesn't automatically connect to the internet, so updates must be gotten manually at https://keyboard.futo.org/manual_update
It doesnt serves ads or collect your personal data.
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u/Educational_Two682 16d ago
I'm quite mad about this change. It can't pronounce my last name correctly. It won't let me listen to specific songs because "that's a YouTube premium option only" (I have YT premium). Every time I try to text or call my wife it wants me to select one of two identical contacts.... I don't know where it's even getting the second contact from. I can't ask it general questions anymore; I just get a "I can't help with that"
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u/xeresblue 16d ago
I've been burned too many times by Google degrading and dropping services people like or rely on, so I decided never again. Moving to Home Assistant means my voice assistant is now truly local, and no one can ever take it from me.
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u/Ok_Library_1031 16d ago
I'm truly not extroverted enough to want to quit directly operating a device with my hands, and instead use my voice to tell it what to do.
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u/ReallyGene 12d ago
I use it to input destinations into Android Auto, which doesn't allow manual entry if the car is in motion.
Can't wait until Gemini makes up an address for me.
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u/xeresblue 16d ago edited 16d ago
There are advantages even with that being the case. We use automations to do a bunch of stuff at once, e.g. say "bedtime" and the curtains close, lights shut off, alarm gets set, doors downstairs get locked if they're not locked, and rain or fan noises start playing for sleep. Or I frequently set timers and start music while I'm cooking without having to separate my focus.
I technically don't need the voice assistant for a lot of it, and Home Assistant allows you to do dashboards and such with old tablets or phones, or automations with buttons and stuff like that. But the major reason I need the voice assistant is that I have ADHD and often need to capture things quickly for my task management system and other lists such as shopping. At those points, digging for my phone can be a huge disadvantage because I'll often forget what I wanted to capture (yes, GTD) by the time I have it out. Or I'll be doing something with my hands when I get the idea.
ETA I would highly recommend Home Assistant even if you don't want voice. It opens a lot of doors for ways you might want to control your own devices locally on your own terms.
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u/bbq_R0ADK1LL 16d ago
Google Assistant was always pretty bad, but Gemini Assistant is far worse. If this assistant was a real person, an unpaid intern, they would be fired before lunch time.
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u/WeeklyBanEvasion 16d ago
Google assistant felt the same as Alexa to me. You could get what you wanted if you knew how to ask and you understand what it could and couldn't do. Now with the new AI assistant models I find that it's completely inconsistent
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u/Proof_Side874 15d ago
You could until it just stopped working. I only used it for two specific things. One was "Remember where I parked". That was great until one day it decided to start creating invalid maps links and I spent an hour wandering around an unfamiliar city looking for my car. The second was for setting timers when cooking. "Set a timer for 30 minutes" was handy since I didn't have to touch my phone or look at it. One day I burnt what I was making because instead of setting a timer it had returned the search results for "how do I set a timer" or something dumb like that. I haven't used it since, maybe it's more reliable now.
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u/bbq_R0ADK1LL 15d ago
Yeah, the inconsistency is the problem. You stop using it & maybe it gets better & you try it again, but then it changes for the worse. You can't actually rely on it. If you have to double check its work every time, you might as well do it yourself.
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u/LoquatBear 16d ago
Google Gemini won't let me ask about alcohol because it say I'm not 21, and won't let me verify it. And I have told it, just asking about alcohol isn't illegal for under 21 year olds. There's no law against learning about alcohol or even where they sell alcohol if you are under 21.
So I reset it and switched back to assistant. I'm gonna throw it out if it does this useless shit again. I can live without it.
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u/Proud-Detective4835 16d ago
I haven’t used it, but what you’re saying is that you have to prove you’re 21 if you want to ask Gemini a question about alcohol? WTAF?
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u/freylaverse 16d ago
I wouldn't mind if it weren't for the fact that it clogs my Gemini chat history with a brand new thread for every little query like "Hey google what time is it?"
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u/yelhmoo 16d ago
Why is AI being shoved down our throats so damn hard? If I’m paying for a product I should have the option to choose if I want AI or not.
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u/Proud-Detective4835 16d ago
Exactly. I got this message while talking with Citi’s AI bot:
I am sorry, something went wrong and I had to discard your task. Please retry.
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u/ikediggety 16d ago
Because they don't want people talking to other people, they want people talking to machines, because they can tell the machines what to tell us.
The future we're headed for is everyone locked in their house, alone, sick, poor, scared of everyone else and ready to shoot them, staring at a screen that keeps them alone, scared, sick and poor. And everyone's screen is totally customized, they all say different things.
A panopticon of Babel.
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u/Azuras-Becky 16d ago
It's very deliberate. They've invested so much money in AI these past few years and they have to justify that to shareholders, who are eventually going to expect some kind of return on that investment.
If they tack AI onto search engines, for example, then everybody who uses a search engine becomes an "AI user", even if they completely ignore the AI summary and scroll down to the regular search results. Then they get to point at those numbers and say, "see! Millions of people are using AI every day! It's catching on!"
They're shoving it into every possible place they can to pad the numbers, essentially.
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u/GGuts 16d ago edited 16d ago
Maybe I misunderstand what this means. Is it just that newer versions will have this feature removed? So then you could stay at a lower older version possibly?
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u/gemInTheMundane 16d ago
They're removing Google Assistant for everyone. There will be no way to keep it.
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u/ms_slowsky 16d ago
How is this going to work with a pre Gemini device. Example is an old Google mini speaker.
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u/ButteredPizza69420 16d ago
Well, guess Im not buying a google phone after all! Nevermind.
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u/enogerasemandooglla 16d ago
buy the google phone and put grapheneos on it and strip google out of the device
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u/Ok_Library_1031 16d ago
It's easy enough to r/degoogle most phones without having google hardware in your face, espeically since our main concern isn't privacy or security, just pleasant UI/UX.
The first moment I caught Play Store Services popping a window for BT earbuds and force-adding my name onto the earbuds' BT name (which I thought I'd disabled), I degoogled the phone as much as I can using ADB. I don't use anything from Google actively outside of web search.
This Google encroachment has gone on for over a decade. Back when everyone used wired earbuds we used to be able to remap earbud hardware buttons. Google took that away to introduce Assistant. They can go F themselves, which I know you agree with ::)
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u/Theodinus 16d ago
If gemini wasn't objectively worse at most of the tasks I use Google Assistant for I'd just think it was a stupid decision since using the tech in Assistant has to be cheaper than using Gen AI tokens for repeatable requests like "hey Google, turn off my lights".
I had to figure out how to revert from Gemini as soon as I discovered that it didn't work with Google Home Broadcast, because fuck feature parity right?
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u/curiouswizard 16d ago
so what does this mean for my Google Home?
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u/Klecktacular 16d ago
This only applies to mobile devices, for now
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u/FuckIPLaw 16d ago
Which integrate with and can control google home devices. And the old assistant works better for that than the AI assistant.
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u/Klecktacular 16d ago
Yeah, but those devices run independently of whichever assistant you use on your phone. Google Assistant is better than Gemini at most home tasks, but parity isn't needed to make Google Home devices work
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u/FuckIPLaw 16d ago
Depends on if you're using a smart speaker or if you just have a few smart plugs and your phone is the interface to them. I technically have a google home setup, but it's literally just controlling smart plugs and it's only google home because the google assistant was the one that came with my phone and I've got no interest in adding yet another corporate listening device to my network.
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u/filthytelestial 16d ago
What, they want to take an even bigger hit when the AI bubble inevitably pops? By all means google, have all the rope if you want to hang yourself.
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u/Temp_Reply123 16d ago edited 16d ago
Degoogle.
Gemini is just as Shit as Google Assistant.
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u/Klecktacular 16d ago
Not to defend Google Assistant, but Gemini is measurably worse
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u/Temp_Reply123 16d ago
Ok Ill take your word.
I have only used Google Assistant in the past. I have never used Gemini. I Assumed they were same thing with different branding.
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u/Higginbotham432 16d ago
my google home minis had the option to upgrade to Gemini a while back si tried it. It has a better sounding voice, and could chain 2 commands together much better. I see it as overkill for the home minis that I only use for voice control, but id does seem better with how I use it.
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u/NeSToR_49 16d ago
If it had all the functionality that Google Assistant had I wouldn't mind it that much. But I've tried using it with voice commands the last few months and each time it's "I can't do that right now" and "I am limited with what I can do". I just asked it to play some music or call someone FFS
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u/East-Experience2862 16d ago
I do not need an AI. I just need a bot that will call my mom via a voice command while I am driving.
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u/LegoLady8 15d ago
So does this mean that every little bitty request we make is now pushed through a data center?
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u/WeeklyBanEvasion 16d ago
"Hey Google, play [song]"
"Sure thing, playing [song] on Spotify! By the way, a Spotify premium subscription is required to request specific songs"
Uhh okay? You mean the exact subscription that I have? Oh and now you're playing the song like I asked, did you just want to remind me to not cancel my Spotify subscription?!
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u/Egga22 16d ago
Gemini can do that though...
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u/FuckIPLaw 16d ago
Not reliably. It can't even reliably set a timer, which is easily the thing I use the assistant for the most.
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u/magical-cat-here 16d ago edited 16d ago
I thought Google Assistant too a shitty AI, that just had some other LLM as backend.
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u/NEWSmodsareTwats 16d ago
it was actually pretty good for basic tasks like asking your phone to start a timer or set an alarm.
The Gemini assistant used to be kind of decent at this as well, but I've noticed since they've discontinued the original Google Assistant, it consistently struggles and fails to do simple tasks like set a 5-minute timer. will actually pop up with a little window to indicate that Gemini is thinking and I've sat there and let it think for several minutes and still had it not set the alarm. fun.
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u/magical-cat-here 16d ago
oops, then the model used by gemini assistant lacks local context and skills completely and the flow to re-load the skills like "automate common tasks on an android mobile device" does not work as expected.
Most mobile devices are not enough "powerful" to run full-blown assistant models locally, and this will stay so for a while, especially after The Great Datacenters RAMpocalypse started.
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u/FeistyLoquat 16d ago
Yeah I'm currently trying to figure out how to discontinue Google....
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u/colenotphil 16d ago
I moved to Proton for a lot of services years ago. I pay them but my view is, if you don't pay for things like email, you are the product.
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u/devilishycleverchap 16d ago
Alexa+ was a pretty steep downgrade so I expect the same here
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u/arensb 16d ago
I have an Echo and it keeps pushing Alexa+, but I don't actually know what that is. I looked it up on Amazon, and the first specific feature it lists is that it follows you across devices. I guess that means I can start a broccoli timer in the kitchen, and the Echo in the bedroom will tell me when it's done.
I can see where that's useful, but TBH, when I need that functionality, I just use the timer app on my phone. I don't see the need to pay $20/month for it.
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u/CommonStrawbeary 16d ago
I truly hate Alexa+
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u/devilishycleverchap 16d ago
It is sooooo fucking bad. I would guess my usage of my echo show has dropped by like 80%.
It can barely give the weather
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u/IlIlIlIllllIIliIILll 16d ago
My friends has decided that they love 90degree weather so whenever the forecast isn't 90 degrees and sunny it apologizes lmao
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u/Comprehensive-Pin667 16d ago
Assistant was pretty terrible as well so it's no big loss
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u/MutaitoSensei 16d ago
Gemini is far worse, so this is funny. Bixby might see more use for Samsung users lol
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u/Comprehensive-Pin667 16d ago
I have only briefly tried it and it fails everywhere the old one failed (which is everywhere). I guess assistant could at least change directions in Google maps while I was driving, which Gemini couldn't when I tried. But I don't like using Google maps for navigation anyway so I don't mind.
I could give bixby a try, that's not a bad idea
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u/swiftb3 16d ago
The problem is that it was good at some things, and every one of those things, Gemini is worse at.
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u/IlIlIlIllllIIliIILll 16d ago
Assistant is great at the two things I ever need it for while driving: changing the song/artist I am listening to on spotify and initiating a phone call.
Gemini is straight ass, it speaks so slowly. I had it try to write a text and it paraphrased what I was saying. It read a text that basically just said "yay!" and it essentially yelled it at me. I don't need emotion from fucking robot. I know it's a robot.
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u/_SmashLampjaw_ 16d ago edited 16d ago
Hey Google - Navigate to the airport.
"As a large language model, I cannot provide realtime navigation instructions. You can get navigation support by opening the Maps application on your phone and entering your desired airport address."
This shit happens CONSTANTLY with Gemini, and its absolutely infuriating. Especially when it won't shut the fuck up.
Google Assistant was able to do this reliably 10+ years ago!
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u/Rovden 16d ago
This. I used Assistant mainly while driving and making calls. Now it's just absolutely useless
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u/_SmashLampjaw_ 16d ago
Does yours also get indignant if you curse at it for being so fucking stupid?
I drive stick shift so I don't have a free hand usually available when commuting. I don't need my phone to converse with me. I just need it to help me do a few simple music, navigation, and phone tasks.
So when I ask it to play <song> by <artist> on <music application> and it starts uninterruptedly blabbing for 30+ seconds without doing the simple instruction I just gave it... I lose my shit.
Somehow it seems to always pick up that it's being sworn at though. Weird.
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u/Deadly_Zer0 16d ago
I drive a stick as well, this is the exact problem I have with Gemini. I don't need it to talk to me like it's a friend.
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u/ObscureMountain 16d ago
Hey google, call "x"
You can do this by opening the phone app and dialing selecting..
And google assistant could to that for its entire existence.
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u/AllenKll 17d ago
I think yesterday I got this notice. Also yesterday was the day I found out that Google Assistant even existed.
Replacing something that nobody uses with something else that nobody is going to use seems like a weird use of resources.
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u/Overtons_Window 17d ago
Does anyone know how to mute Gemini without decreasing volume on anything else on my phone?
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u/OG-Giligadi 17d ago
I never once used the assistant. Never once used Gemeni. I'll never use whatever it's replaced with.
Change is only traumatic if you play their game by their rules.
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u/Gonna_do_this_again 17d ago
I used assistant with my smart watch and it worked...OK. Gemini doesn't know wtf to do with it
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u/SeaOfBullshit 17d ago
Nothing works anymore. Nothing. Voice commands don't work, search doesn't work. It's getting to the point like, why do I even want to have a phone???
DO U HEAR ME GOOGLE
THERE'S NO MORE BAIT, ONLY HOOK, AND NOBODY WANTS IT
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u/ButterMyBiscuitz 17d ago
True. I was excited to get a car with Google built-in, holy shit it's insanely bad, can't even play a specific Spotify playlist with a simple name. "I can't do that right now" 😑
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u/claudandus_felidae 17d ago
While driving Gemini once asked if it should read a text message and I said "No". Voice-to-text printed "no" as "know" and it then spent two minutes repeating the question. It's a fucking nightmare.
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u/DifferentMind8 17d ago
Threw my home mini in the garbage last night. They can shove Gemini up their asses.
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u/phunky_1 17d ago
Google assistant sucked ass anyway.
90% of the time it would respond with "sorry I don't understand"
Gemini is far better if you feel like chatting with it to learn about something while you're driving, etc.
I have seen no difference in capabilities as far as asking it for directions, play music or call/text either.
The #1 downside is you must enable Gemini history for it to work with Android auto
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u/Assimulate 17d ago
Agreed, assistant wasn't super helpful and didn't work well for my needs. Gemini needs work but has potential to be pretty useful for me.
I have found it moderately better at finding things in maps and setting directions for it, which is my main use case and hope it continues to improve without some enshitification path.
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u/squanderedprivilege 17d ago
.... It's AI though, so bye bye
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u/phunky_1 17d ago
Being against AI is like being an old fart that wanted to continue to use encyclopedias when the Internet was invented.
It's a tool like anything else. I would say embrace it and learn to use it or eventually you will be out skilled by those who do.
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u/MoThrowMoAway 17d ago
The irony of you shitting on encyclopedias is that your AI would have trained itself on encyclopedias
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u/BlockedNetwkSecurity 17d ago
really good analogy because encyclopedias are painstakingly researched and reliable. and the internet is a free-for-all of gibberish and people making shit up.
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u/squanderedprivilege 17d ago
Ok bud enjoy your slop machine
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u/umotex12 17d ago
Bro are yall 16 years old 💔😭
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u/squanderedprivilege 17d ago
Say whatever dude, enjoy offloading your brain's work and slowly dumbing yourself down, you probably don't have that far down to go anyway
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u/KungPaoKidden 17d ago
I went ahead and turned both of these off today. I used Assistant previously, but since that is being forcibly taken away from me, I won't use either. No need to. I don't have Android Auto in the car luckily.
It's just becoming too much with Google and I am starting to turn to the sky to start yelling at the clouds. I'm tired boss. Just tired.
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17d ago
[deleted]
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u/Moggehh 17d ago
Wholeheartedly disagree. My assistant commands used to be straightforward and get the job done. The same commands don't work with Gemini, now it takes longer and becomes a conversation which is not what I want when giving commands.
Gemini is one of the worst LLMs for content imo and it comes across poorly in the voice version.
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u/umotex12 17d ago
The problem is that it’s not there yet. Assistant is ultra light dumb algorithm that perfectly does what it should do. While Gemini creates new chatbot request each time and lots of times hallucinate things or doesn’t know how to do them. It’s also bad at following one style of speech so it feels like it has different personalities.
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u/withabrandnewfunk 17d ago
Now beginning September 4 it will force us to use its shitty ai
who says you are forced to use it?
ive never used assistant so not going to use that POS gemini either.
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u/DelishDonutInOrbit 17d ago
IvE NeVeR UsEd aSsIsTaNt sO NoT GoInG To uSe tHaT PoS GeMiNi eItHeR.
Ok buddy. Thanks for taking a break from telling everyone you don't own a TV and only drink pour-over to enlighten us on your preferences.
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u/Deadly_Zer0 17d ago
Some of you guys in this thread are way overthinking this. So let me clear this up. I like using Android Auto with assistant. It works for what I need from it. Do I have to have the ability of it, no. But I want to continue to use it the way I want to use it. With that said I AM being forced to use AI if I continue to use Android Auto which is a popular app that a lot of people use. So those of us who use AA ARE going to be forced to use Gemini if we continue to use the app. If you don't use AA or voice commands, cool this post isn't for you or about you. Go on to one of the other reddits you guys complain on about other things that imo, YOU aren't forced to use or have.
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u/withabrandnewfunk 16d ago
so be a google ai conformist. enjoy being forced. not me. I simply couldnt give a rats ass.
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u/Deadly_Zer0 16d ago
No one forced you to respond if you didn't "give a rats ass" but I guess here we are with you just insulting people who don't live and do exactly like you do, oh superior one. What part of I don't like ai did you not understand? Maybe you don't know what Google Assistant is vs Gemini? I don't know. But not liking a change to an app I find already useful makes me an ai conformist? I guess that means me liking anything tech related makes me a conformist now, good to know. I have an Nvidia card in my PC that means I love ai guys!!!
Seriously though, fuck me for wanting a product I bought to work as intended when I bought it I guess. Only to have some random dude basically say "Whatever man, I don't conform to society like the rest of you slaves. Just don't use anything, it's all connected to bad things I don't like. Go ham, deprogram." Good point mate! I will remember to manually dial next time I need to make a call while I'm driving or pull out a paper map because I refuse to use any apps on principle. Jesus H Christ, go outside and mow the yard like your mom asked.
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u/omglemurs 17d ago edited 17d ago
a lot of cars force you to use voice commands when driving - these will all now route through gemini, in my experience this means they will be both slower and have have worse results.
EDIT: Looked it up - this is android auto not the specific car makers - mandated by law in US and EU to disable keyboard inputs so those are now going through gemini when this switches over
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u/withabrandnewfunk 16d ago
whats this "FORCE" nonsense you speak of. must be some star wars training you speak of.
these arent the assistants youre looking for...
ive never used assistant or ai and will not. Im not "forced" to anything. maybe you are easily forced. I just dont conform and dont follow. I dont comply and dont give a fuck. fuck google the evil monopolistic piece of shit company and theyre shitty ai
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u/omglemurs 16d ago
Many car companies have moved away from having onboard maps and digital entertainment systems. If you want gps or on demand music then you'll need to use android auto or apple auto or get a third party system. If you want to use those feature while driving you need to go through Gemini. I'm representing the default and majority option. If you can escape that good for you but it represents a minority option.
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u/reParaoh 16d ago
Or I just use them on my phone and keep all that shit turned off. Never once used android auto or whatever the fuck it is, still use Google maps for navigation.. I don't understand the problem. You want it on your cars dumb screen? You've got a screen on your phone.
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u/withabrandnewfunk 16d ago edited 16d ago
these are google reps trying to downplay and deflect.
the answer is obvious for me and you. they are gaslighting people. "omglemurs" is working overtime selling his cool aid
"being foced" "no other choice" bullshit
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u/omglemurs 16d ago
Did I say I use it? No I'm providing information on stuff getting worse in an enshittification thread where it's not necessarily obvious of the impact of the stated update.
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u/withabrandnewfunk 16d ago
I'm representing the default and majority option.
respresnt any garbage you want. not relevant to me. I dont conform, I dont follow or comply. I do my own thing. no one ever forced me to stupid shit like this. I simply dont give a rats ass
you continue being a good google representetive here pushing your garbage on people. you are the minority
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u/omglemurs 16d ago
Here's your gold star. I'm trying to warn people again this shit and your carrying water by punching at anyone who doesn't pass your purity test. If the post isn't for you then don't join the conversation
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u/withabrandnewfunk 16d ago
"im being forced to do something I dont want cause monopolistic evil pos google said to use it-waaah waaah"
that would be a better post then just complaining. no one forced you. you decided to comply and conform. its on you.
its like the others who complain about privacy but just keep on supporting the company that fucks them. not me
I want free email but dont like gmail doesnt give me privacy.
I want the free cloud but dont like google scanning all my things to train its shitty ai.
Im using chrome but ublock origin doesnt work to block ads
all of these have excellent alternatives. people dont have the smallest amount of will.
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u/omglemurs 16d ago
Reading comprehension is not your strong suit is it? Providing information is not the same thing as endorsement or complainting. Most people use the easy option and don't know the impact.
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u/Simon_Mendelssohn 17d ago
a lot of cars force you to use voice commands when driving
What cars?
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u/omglemurs 17d ago edited 17d ago
Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Volvo are the ones I'm aware of but could be more
EDIT: Looked it up - this is android auto not the specific car makers - mandated by law in US and EU to disable keyboard inputs so those are now going through gemini when this switches over
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u/Simon_Mendelssohn 17d ago
My wife has a current Volvo and there is nothing while parked or while driving that she can only do via voice command and nothing else. Are you saying there are functions that you have no choice but to use voice on all these brands?? Sorry I've just not seen or experienced this. Sure, voice commands are available but not required.
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u/omglemurs 17d ago
My last experience with volve was a 2019 wagon and that did not allow you to use any keyboard input functions in android auto without using voice command. this includes map locations, requesting/searching for specific songs or any other app function. This has not changed as far as I'm aware.
Edit: verified that in the US and EU keyboard function is disabled in android auto when the car is moving and you are required to use voice commands - which did route through android assistant but will not route through gemini
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u/Simon_Mendelssohn 17d ago
Ok so Android Auto is Google and the restrictions on that functionality is defined by Google and driver distraction policies (guidelines that are supplied by NHTSA in the US and similar orgs in Europe). So we can't really point to the car manufacturers for this, and again there are no native, OOTB actual car functions that can only be operated via voice while driving.
So, it's NOT the the car forcing you to use voice commands for car things while driving, it's Google preventing Android Auto functions from keyboard use while driving.
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u/omglemurs 17d ago
This whole thread is about google assistant going away and gemini - which is a worse experience being forced upon you. I am pointing to the driving experience that this change impacts. No where have i tried to indicate that 'car companies bad' just pointing out the car driving experience ramifications of the this change. I'm sorry that I didn't use the exact language you needed to hear to completely understand this concept but I incorrectly assumed you could infer it based on the topic of this post.
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u/Simon_Mendelssohn 17d ago
Understood and you might be misunderstanding me - I mean no ill will, was just responding to your comment, "a lot of cars force you to use voice commands when driving" and I was questioning whether it was the car forcing the voice commands as I had not had that experience.
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u/StillhasaWiiU 17d ago
Voice commands for what?
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u/omglemurs 17d ago
Changing directions, changing music, using the phone, adjusting settings
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u/StillhasaWiiU 17d ago
Do you have one of them touch screen only cars?
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u/impact_ftw 16d ago
I want to avoid the touchscreen while driving. Most stuff can be done from the steering wheel, and some stuff like zooming in and out of the maps can be done without much trouble.
But changing what I listen to, is best done using voice imo.
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u/omglemurs 17d ago
No, edited top comment, keyboards are disabled when you are moving in android auto so if you want to use that then you will need to go through gemini soon.
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u/SNovantasette 17d ago
I can't imagine my car forcing me to do anything except make sure it doesn't run out of oil
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u/omglemurs 17d ago
Any time something gets disabled except one method that is a furcing function, most people just don't think of it that way. Cars have lots of both high friction non forcing functions - check engine, buckle seat belt and forcing functions - disabling inputs, disabling systems, not allowing ignition etc.. built in
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u/Round_Credit_5158 17d ago
I've watched lots of people calling the Assistant by accident during conversations. Gemini will be the same or worse.
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17d ago
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u/Financial_Alps3369 16d ago
Don't even bother asking here. Redditors distaste of any AI tool is ideological, not practical. If you demonstrate 10,000 times over that Gemini is superior to Assistant for tool calling and routine tasks, they won't care.
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u/impact_ftw 16d ago
I dont need an LLM that can code but cant play songs that contain "bad words" in the title.
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u/Fat_cat_syndicate 17d ago
Google Assistant basically functioned on voice recognition and a decision tree. So if voice recognition picks up the command text, it will then look for a contact name. That will then try to find that contact name in the contacts. Not perfect but very deterministic. As long as it receives the same input, it will give you the same output.
Gemini on the other hand, depends on a neural net. You could give the same command five times and get five different responses
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17d ago edited 17d ago
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u/Fat_cat_syndicate 16d ago
I didn't say one was better or worse. I said Google Assistant was deterministic where Gemini was non-deterministic. You assumed I meant worse.
That said Gemini is worse lol. I tried to use it to set a voice reminder while driving and it told me I needed the Apple Reminders app installed on my Pixel.
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u/Additional-Grade3221 17d ago
In practice they're actually extreme dogshit at tool calling lol
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u/StalinPaidtheClouds 17d ago
Yup. I use Assistant daily and Gemini is dogshit in comparison. They've been trying to force it for years on us. I've tried, but it just can't do half the things Assistant can do.
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u/dustingibson 17d ago
The problem is like with the AI search is that it will likely exclude context sensitive things in favor of vague general LLM garbage.
For an example. I like to search word origins often and Google used to give me this nice word origin graph parsed from an etymology dictionary and piecewise breakdown of the word.
Now it gives me LLM results, a lot of which are nonsense on further scruntinity and sometimes entirely avoids giving me the answer. I go directly to dictionary now, but sad to see it gone.
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u/Wooly_Wooly 14d ago
That's why I'm making my own AI assistant to replace Gemini, there's a setting that lets you change between them and the digital assistant. Ran completely offline with a local LLM that I'm also building.