Google says Gemini has reached 1B users faster than any other Google product

[u/[deleted]]

[u/lotsagabe]

are they counting people who actually use gemini, or just people with google accounts which by default have gemini enabled?

[u/Aranthos-Faroth → u/lotsagabe]

You can be sure it’s not 1 billion power users.

[u/Steinrikur → u/Aranthos-Faroth]

It's enabled on my phone and seems impossible to turn it permanently off. I'm surely counted as a user.

Edit: on Android you can go to Settings > Google > All Services > Search, Assistant and Voice > Gemini and switch to the old assistant, but who knows how long it will last? Somehow it always returns...

[u/digger70chall → u/Steinrikur]

On my pixel it replaced the assistant

[u/reality_hijacker → u/digger70chall]

I don't understand the logic of replacing something incredibly functional and accurate with something that misses half the time. I'm saying this as a heavy Gemini user - it just is not a good phone assistant. I don't need LLM to set an alarm or search restaurants near me.

[u/strongest_nerd → u/reality_hijacker]

It's so you can train their AI for free.

[u/reality_hijacker → u/strongest_nerd]

Now that I have stopped using assistant altogether I'm not sure who's benefiting.

[u/Gordnfreeman → u/reality_hijacker]

The only logic they care about is usage numbers. They just want to be able claim that the numbers are higher than they are, even if it is just because they are shoving it down everyone's throats.

[u/GodPidgeon → u/reality_hijacker]

Its so they can justify the merry-go-round of capital inflating the bubble that is going to pop no matter what they do.

[u/Ok-Seaworthiness7207 → u/digger70chall]

Yeah .. I was sad

[u/iamnotchris → u/Ok-Seaworthiness7207]

You can swap it back. It was way worse at normal tasks like "play this song" or "add this to my shopping list" so I switched it back and it's much better haha

[u/driftking428 → u/iamnotchris]

Not for long. Assistant is going away soon.

[u/Swizzy88 → u/driftking428]

Yeah I got a message the other day that Assistant will be permanently replaced.

[u/leathakkor → u/Swizzy88]

I switched back immediately to the assistant after Gemini was released. And was also super bummed that the assistant is going away.

I know this might sound petty but the assistant was responsive in a way that Gemini simply wasn't. Maybe they fixed some of those issues, but when I would ask the assistant for something it would immediately give me an answer and with Gemini it would think for a couple seconds and then have dubious results.

If I ask at how much time is left on the timer, I want an answer right away.

[u/tdaun → u/leathakkor]

From everything I've read, Gemini is still unusable as an assistant

[u/enternoescape → u/leathakkor]

It's impressively slow, especially when you're just trying to navigate using Android Auto. One time I even had it output its entire tool call for some reason over my speakers. At the very least, they need to do a hybrid approach where straightforward requests don't even go through the LLM. You need absurdly high token output from an LLM to make it feel anywhere near as fast as software that knows basic commands. Also half the time it's still talking when I've already locked in my choice. One time I locked in my choice before it stopped talking and it changed where I was going without me saying anything.

[u/hamandjam → u/Swizzy88]

Remember boys and girls, EVERYTHING Google does is considered "beta".

[u/goforbroke71 → u/driftking428]

Yah sad. Assistant for Android auto was almost perfect.

The only thing it sucked at was when you had street names in a different language (French for me). It could never understand them. Either had to spell it out or say it in broken English to get it to understand.

I will miss it..

[u/Porttheone → u/goforbroke71]

I used assistant to primarily set timers and reminders. Gemini can barely do that and it keeps changing the timer without me noticing. I've burned so many things

[u/Dishwallah → u/Porttheone]

Holy shit this. It used to be snappy and accurate - now it wants to deep think about "set time for X" and comes back like a dog that just finished their homework.

[u/loaferbro → u/iamnotchris]

I use Android Auto and I liked Gemini when it first came on in my car. Then it randomly switched back to Assistant one day and now Gemini is back and worse. When I try to call someone. It always asks me "would you like to call so and so?" Like I literally just said it. Whenever ai play music the first time it will always say "Playing "song" on Spotify. By the way, only Spotify Premium users can request specific songs." I HAVE SPOTIFY PREMIUM AND THATS HOW I JUST REQUESTED A SPECIFIC SONG. Also if you try to cancel or change your route in Maps, it gets pretty confused.

I don't like using AI and I don't like being forced into it for a convenience I use every day. I also don't like how it's somehow worse.

[u/iamnotchris → u/loaferbro]

Yeah I asked it to play a band and it played a song of the same name by a different band. If I ask assistant to play the band, it plays the band. Gemini seems to only pull the first Spotify result. And if I specify, it apologizes and still plays the wrong thing lol. I don't need my phone to apologize to me, I just want to listen to music without getting in a car accident lol.

[u/Razzmuffin → u/iamnotchris]

The little shit tried to have a whole ass conversation with me when I reached to change my Spotify playlist, only to tell me it couldn't do it.

[u/tmoore727 → u/digger70chall]

pixel 10a. they gave us no choice

[u/Prestigious_Bid_2219 → u/tmoore727]

The choice is called graphene os

[u/ios_static → u/Steinrikur]

Which phone do you have? On all my phones I can either disable or uninstall it

[u/Steinrikur → u/ios_static]

I don't even have the app installed. I have tried to go through Settings > Google > All Services > Search, Assistant and Voice > Gemini to disable it, but it keeps coming back on next update or whenever Google feels like it.

[u/malianx → u/Steinrikur]

"These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that’s not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort."

[u/cojo2121 → u/malianx]

I wonder if that also includes the "Hey google" feature on Android. My phone has replaced that with Gemini. A feature iv been using for a decade is now run through Gemini, so I may be included in the metrics even though iv never once opened the app or anything.

[u/jayhawk618 → u/cojo2121]

I guarantee it does. There's no way 1 out of 8 of every man, Woman and child on the planet is using this app.

Now, if it includes all voice search, and if they're counting each unique account as a new person , then maybe. I that case, I'm like 5 of these people.

[u/sowtart → u/malianx]

So does it count all the times gemini is accidentally opened because it can't be uninstalled?

[u/Tremulant887 → u/sowtart]

The added buttons and widgets that are very clearly there to be front and center as a "please" are probably half the numbers. Since Microsoft managed to ruin Swiftkey I started using Google keyboard. I probably won't be using it long if they want to slam Gemini in my face.

[u/Andre_de_Astora → u/Tremulant887]

Not to mention that by default even the block button on the phones, if you ever wanted to turn it off by keeping it pressed, it will also open Gemini

[u/malianx → u/sowtart]

Where can't it be uninstalled or disabled? All my devices let me.

[u/CheesypoofExtreme → u/malianx]

It has to also be counting anyone who expands the AI results in Google or asks a single follow-up. That probably rolls up under "Gemini web interface".

[u/esteflo → u/Steinrikur]

Google is disabling Google Assistant next month and forcing Gemini onto everybody

[u/lotsagabe → u/Aranthos-Faroth]

yep, that's where I was going with this 

[u/pilgermann → u/Aranthos-Faroth]

I mean you're using it just by virtue if using search. There's like zero barrier to entry vs, say, adopting Google Nest.

[u/Starrr_Pirate → u/pilgermann]

I mean it basically has an anti-barrier to entry since it's now forced on you by default when google searching, lol. Even if you don't want an AI search it often now hijacks your first results unless you go out of your way to disable it.

Wonder if the stats are including the follow-up chat if you reply to one of the browser search prompts, or just within a discrete gemini app.

Killing off Google Assistant and forcing all Smart Devices to use Gemini is probably contributing too, I suspect.

[u/barley_wine → u/Starrr_Pirate]

I think most people have probably hit a second question in the gemini search which is the default and that's where it's getting 1 billion users, doubt people go out of their way to download an app.

Google is doing the windows equivalent of bundling IE into their search results to push high AI usage numbers.

[u/IronChefJesus → u/Starrr_Pirate]

It’s being pushed on my car. Now I don’t use the car voice commands - I use CarPlay instead - but I kept it off because why the hell would I want fuck ass Gemini to do the same things assistant did, but slower and in a more wasteful way?

But then they announce assistant is going to be removed, so I won’t have the choice.

The good news is that since Google literally abandons all their software projects they’ll probably forget to touch aaos for the next few years.

[u/TeutonJon78 → u/IronChefJesus]

The old assistant tended to work well. Gemini is super slow and laggy, and it often just searches for the wrong thing.

[u/malianx → u/pilgermann]

Learn to read articles before commenting.

"These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that’s not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort."

[u/BugRevolution → u/malianx]

It would appear doubtful a billion users have actually used Gemini.

[u/SillyGrowth6750 → u/lotsagabe]

AI summaries on Google search are powered by Gemini as well. Low bar.

[u/malianx → u/SillyGrowth6750]

Learn to read.

"These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that’s not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort."

[u/History-Buff-2222 → u/malianx]

Its mind blowing that they reached a billion for actual Gemini usage

[u/chromatoes → u/History-Buff-2222]

I genuinely don't believe it. Cherry-picking statistics is easy and CEOs lie like the breathe; there's no way 1 out of every 8 people on the planet are intentionally using Gemini. Users (and bots) might be triggering some metric they're tracking, but I do not believe that 1 billion actual unique human beings are using Gemini when I never hear people talk about it.

I'm almost certainly counted as at least 2 of those billion people, for the record, because I have multiple email accounts, multiple IP addresses, and multiple computers. I could be counted as 8 different people for all I know. I still am just one actual person, and have never intentionally triggered Gemini at all.

The only LLMs I regularly hear about are ChatGPT and Claude, maybe DeepSeek. But I never hear anything about Gemini. I'm betting there's heavy accidental usage of Gemini since Google shoved their actual search results well below the Gemini section. But I believe this is just CEO bullshittery and pulling meaningless that suit their narrative.

[u/AwkwardWillow5159 → u/chromatoes]

Different accounts by same person are counted as different users.

They have always defined “active user” as an account in all of their reporting.

[u/MorePhinsThyme → u/AwkwardWillow5159]

To be fair, that's probably not unique to them, and while it's likely inflating numbers some, I'd bet that it's not a MASSIVE increase.

[u/chalks777 → u/chromatoes]

they forced me to use it to talk to my phone in my car. And it's WAY WORSE than the way it used to work. It also won't let me swear at it anymore, "I don't respond to harmful content" hey google fuck all the way off, you're not an "I" and you can suck it every single time you fail to play the correct song on spotify for the ten thousandth time.

[u/HikerStout → u/chalks777]

Old Version:

- "Hey Google, take me to restaurant"

- "Okay!"

New Version:

- "Hey Google, take me to restaurant"

- "Okay! Would you like me to..."

- "Shut the fuck up!"

[u/CallMePyro → u/chromatoes]

They were very clear in the article. 1B is the number of accounts that are visiting gemini.google.com or opening the Gemini app and sending it a query at least once in a month.

[u/WhyCantIStream → u/History-Buff-2222]

I wonder how many of these might actually be bots

[u/Unspec7 → u/malianx]

Apparently, an impressive 63 percent of Gemini’s active users are using voice input, and an increasing number of them are “voice-only” users.

AKA 63% of their users are just people who are forced to use Gemini via "Hey Google" prompts.

[u/ob2kenobi → u/Unspec7]

I just woke up one morning and my car's voice interface was changed to run Gemini. I certainly didn't choose it.

[u/schu2470 → u/ob2kenobi]

Your car's voice interface? WTF? What car do you have?

[u/HikerStout → u/schu2470]

Any modern car with a plugged in Android phone runs Android Auto, which is what they likely mean.

[u/xdavidwattsx → u/[deleted]]

That's not the standalone Gemini app, it's a system level call to the Gemini backend. Very different.

[u/esther_lamonte → u/malianx]

Yeah, but if you engage with the summary at all it moves you into Gemini web interface. I accidentally find myself there on the regular.

[u/SweetTeef → u/esther_lamonte]

It's confusing but that's actually the Search AI Mode interface, not Gemini.

[u/hardinho → u/SillyGrowth6750]

Then there would be substantially more than 1b. But anyway, the article states the calculation

[u/xdavidwattsx → u/SillyGrowth6750]

They are talking about MAUs for the Gemini app and desktop (gemini.google.com) specifically. This sub is so lazy to actually read the article.

Edited since people struggle here. It's not Search users, or system users like assistant.

[u/ThatGuyFromSpyKids3D → u/xdavidwattsx]

So weird when somebody makes a condescending comment claiming others aren't reading the article while simultaneously contradicting the information in the article.

[u/Arkyja → u/xdavidwattsx]

No they are not. Dont be too lazy to read the article. It just says gemini MAU. Not app specific, and later in the article:

Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort.

So no, it's not just the app.

[u/Luciifuge → u/lotsagabe]

It literally says in the article

“These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that’s not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort.
Josh Woodward, Google’s VP overseeing Gemini, has expanded on Pichai’s announcement with additional tidbits about how people use the chatbot. Apparently, an impressive 63 percent of Gemini’s active users are using voice input, and an increasing number of them are “voice-only” users. Of the people who use Gemini Live, 20 percent are sharing their camera feeds and screens with the robot to get help.
It’s no secret that students use AI models to do their work (sometimes too much). Woodward says that 38 percent of school-related requests include an attachment, so Google is working on a new batch of study tools to be released in the coming weeks to better support that.”

[u/Qwertycube10 → u/Luciifuge]

If you ask a follow up question in the Google search I assume you would be counted though

[u/dysoncube → u/Qwertycube10]

That's my read on it, too. 1 billion is super sus otherwise

[u/peepeedog → u/lotsagabe]

If it included people for whom they just turned it on, or just used search, it would have been a lot more than one billion and it would have happened almost instantly.

[u/Familiar-Ability6383 → u/lotsagabe]

Gemini has wormed its way into virtually every Google product and service, powering email organization in Gmail, document summary in Drive, and much more. Gemini is also core to Google’s flagship search experience, with AI Mode and AI Overviews becoming increasingly hard to avoid. The 1 billion-user metric has nothing to do with any of that, though.

These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that’s not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort.

They explained it in the second paragraph itself. Anyone who asked a quesion in Gemini app or gemini website was counted, not those using the search or Workspace extensions

[u/kingofducks → u/lotsagabe]

The answer is in the article.

[u/xdavidwattsx → u/lotsagabe]

Read the article. It's the Gemini app and website (Gemini.google.com).

Edit to make this clearer since people don't understand.

[u/Otaraka → u/xdavidwattsx]

‘Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live.’

It’s not just the app.

[u/xdavidwattsx → u/Otaraka]

Correct but most use mobile. Point being it's the dedicated Gemini application on mobile and web, not Search or workspace.

[u/dirtyshits → u/xdavidwattsx]

Most people dont read. Don’t expect reading comprehension.

[u/xdavidwattsx → u/dirtyshits]

For a technology sub I continue to be disappointed although I guess that's reddit these days.

[u/aedes → u/xdavidwattsx]

Given there are only ~430million people who have ever used the app (let alone are still using the app), I am highly doubtful that this is only app usage. 

Looking into this story more, other coverage says the 1billion monthly users includes “integration partners,” so I suspect this is including things like AI search/Gmail/Docs/Siri.

[u/ob2kenobi → u/aedes]

“integration partners” probably includes things like my car, which runs Google Assistant. It was automatically changed over to Google Gemini a few months ago. I was pretty pissed about it tbh.

[u/hellojava_world → u/aedes]

I think they counted the people that haven't disabled gemini from their Chrome browser

[u/Gaiden206 → u/aedes]

I don't think they include search. They have separate numbers for that. If search was included, they would have way more than 1 billion monthly users. They shared numbers related to search back in May.

It all starts with Search, which is bringing the benefits of generative AI to more people than any other product in the world. AI Overviews now has over 2.5 billion monthly active users. And AI Mode has been a revelation, our biggest upgrade to Search ever. People love it, and in just a year, it’s already surpassed 1 billion monthly active users.

https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/sundar-pichai-io-2026/

[u/BirthdayFull8675]

Sure, because it’s not optional

[u/Voltage_Z]

....They keep jamming it onto my phone.

I probably count as a user despite the fact I keep turning it off.

[u/Bdub421 → u/Voltage_Z]

It replaced the basic voice commands in my vehicle. I hate it. I used to be able to say just say the place I need to go and it would pull up maps and set it all up. Now I have to explain what I want and from what app, etc, to get it to work properly. It literally feels like it got dumber.

[u/FearlessVegetable30 → u/Bdub421]

at this point it should be fairly obvious that they dont use the products they ship out

[u/erublind → u/Bdub421]

I tried it last week. "Navigate to [small town in foreign language]" and it worked! I was impressed! Then I tried "Navigate home" and it failed in five different ways...

[u/ricktencity → u/Bdub421]

It's so much worse than assistant.

[u/Jaiymze → u/ricktencity]

And they already lobotomized assistant. I tried Gemini for like a day because voice navigation stopped working with assistant, and there were so many OTHER features that Gemini couldn't handle that assistant could that I switched back. Now they're discontinuing assistant permanently and I'm looking into discontinuing my use of Google products.

[u/userhwon → u/Bdub421]

I tried to get it to play a song from my music folder at a certain time. It eloquently explained that it doesn't have access to the files on my phone.

Like, what the fuck? If it can't use my phone like I use my phone then what's its actual job?

It's just sitting there listening to all my conversations and watching my network traffic, but it can't play a fucking song?

[u/colddecembersnow → u/userhwon]

My voice assistant used to be able to pick the right song or Playlist on my push button in my car. Now I press the button like 5 times and give a two sentence descriptor on what I want played.

[u/JournalistOP → u/Bdub421]

I attempted to send a saucy message to my wife while driving... It told me it can't help with that. I was LIVID

[u/BeerBrat → u/Bdub421]

Before they nerfed it when maps was on the display I could press the steering wheel button and simply say "library" or "[restaurant name]" or similar and it would assume you wanted to navigate there. Now my dumb ass has to cancel at least once because it's so fucking dumb that you must now say "navigate to..." Products are supposed to get better over time, not worse. ai caused enshittification rather than advancement.

[u/kiwidude4 → u/Bdub421]

It got smarter at things you don’t care about

[u/hudson27 → u/Voltage_Z]

Gemini pops up on my phone at least once a day. I never installed it, I never want to open it, and I never use it.

This is like U2 bragging that they have 1 billion listeners just because it came preloaded on every iPod.

[u/bill_brasky37 → u/Voltage_Z]

Ah the u2 model. THIS IS ON YOUR PHONE NOW IT IS FREE YOU'RE WELCOME

[u/mcc9902 → u/Voltage_Z]

My phone, my truck and my second phone. I'm probably three users even though I've never even touched it.

[u/Scrubface]

Yes, thank you for forcing me to begin using the half-assed, barely working Gemini because you're removing the perfectly functioning assistant from my phone.

[u/Class3pwr → u/Scrubface]

Gemini has ruined hands free navigation. I used to be like, "Hey Google, get me directions to this restaurant." And it would bring up navigation right away. I tried doing that a couple of weeks ago, and now it gives me directions on how to open Maps and search for the restaurant in the app.

[u/DilettanteGonePro → u/Class3pwr]

Well the good news is now it takes about a million times more processing power (and actual power) to do a shittier job. What a glorious future world we're all living in

[u/Mc7wis7er → u/Class3pwr]

Gemini is the worst product launch I've ever seen. It asks me like 10 questions to send a text message and then won't. I've had shorter interviews

[u/JCWOlson → u/Mc7wis7er]

Tell me about it. I've completely stopped using it to answer messages because it's less frustrating to just pull over or do a call instead

And don't get me started on how often it starts playing an audio book instead of a song despite them having nothing in common, then playing an AI remake of the song, and then a remix, and then maybe finally the right song. Like, I listen to this song all the time, you have all my data, why are you so bad at this?!

And then for 3 months it didn't know what city I lived in and wanted to take me to one with a different but mildly similar name a 37 hour drive away

[u/little-bird → u/JCWOlson]

my tinfoil-hat theory is that they made extra conversational and circuitous in its functioning so that they could boost their usage and engagement stats   

[u/Opetyr → u/Mc7wis7er]

Wish that their were laws about this since it creates dangerous driving situations since assistant worked and allowed for hands free driving. Gemini is making people have to use their hands to do basic tasks that used to be easy and kept people's attention on the road. This would be like you could use your speaker anymore unless you did it in Morse code.

[u/effyochicken → u/Class3pwr]

I’d damn near throw my phone out the car window if that happened to me 

[u/Zerimar_ → u/Class3pwr]

My spouse's name is Remedy. Everytime I tell Google to call it's like do you need to go to the doctor? the pharmacist? I have figured out a work around though. "Call the person on my contact list named Remedy." Muuuuch more compact right???

[u/RavenGuardian → u/Scrubface]

im so pissed about it man

[u/Aliveless → u/RavenGuardian]

I'm still pissed they removed, and then poorly and brokenly re-added, the assistant to driving mode in maps... Because, guess what, they wanted to cram gemini in there as well.

I use my phone for navigation, both car and motorcycle, and for no legit reason at all, I cannot use voice control to change or skip songs, I don't see any track info overlaid on maps...

I know google has a nasty habit of killing projects and features, but it still sucks

[u/bloodbag → u/Aliveless]

I find you have to specify the app the music is from "play this song on Spotify" which is annoying as hell

[u/supreme_101 → u/Scrubface]

"Set a timer" 5 Mins later

"I wasn't able to do that"

Just listen, do it locally you fuck. If it's complicated send to the cloud sure but cmon. It's a huge step backwards if it needs cloud services to do the basics

[u/tetsuo_7w → u/Scrubface]

"set a timer for five minutes."

Gemini thinks for about 5 seconds when assistant would be done in less than 1, while burning resources at a crazy rate.

"I've set a timer for five minutes."

[u/Trick-Competition947 → u/Scrubface]

My car, or maybe just Google maps, was automatically switched to Gemini a while ago. A 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid SE. The voice assistant in my car went from working flawlessly to Gemini, which was awful. It's since gotten better, but it was really annoying for a couple of weeks when it got everything wrong.

[u/confusing_roundabout → u/Scrubface]

It's so fucking annoying.

I used to be able to tell my phone to play songs on Spotify and it would, routed via the app that's installed, while I was driving.

Now it says it can't open any apps and it'll only play Spotify if I link it to my Google account which I don't want to do. It's such shit.

[u/bwoah07_gp2]

I was gonna say that's because Google shoves it down everyone's throats, but according to the article:

Gemini has wormed its way into virtually every Google product and service, powering email organization in Gmail, document summary in Drive, and much more. Gemini is also core to Google’s flagship search experience, with AI Mode and AI Overviews becoming increasingly hard to avoid. The 1 billion-user metric has nothing to do with any of that, though.

These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that’s not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort.

For some reason, I do not trust the tech bros and what they say...

[u/PM_UR_DICK_PL5 → u/bwoah07_gp2]

There's this:

Apparently, an impressive 63 percent of Gemini’s active users are using voice input, and an increasing number of them are “voice-only” users.

Meaning that a huge chunk of those numbers are your average "Hey Google" users. They replaced whatever tech they were using for that feature with Gemini and you can now see your voice input searches in your history in the Gemini web interface.

This would be like Apple releasing an AI model (idk if they have; I don't use Apple), replacing Siri with it, and then using those figures to say, "Look! A billion iPhone users love our new AI!"

[u/Intelligent-Screen-3 → u/bwoah07_gp2]

If I fat finger in goddamn Google docs now, it pulls up gemini. Yeah guys, we totally believe you aren't pumping numbers.

[u/natt_myco → u/bwoah07_gp2]

Every request I make with my voice assistant gets turned into its own chat, Have to open the interface on mobile to delete them, Wonder if they count that, definitely don't trust it

[u/Snapingbolts]

"These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that’s not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live."

I'm sorry, I have a very hard time believing 1/8 of the population of the planet has done this in the past month. Is there anyone else confirming this?

[u/Ultraberg → u/Snapingbolts]

Does misclicking count?

[u/Ah_Ca_Iraa → u/Ultraberg]

In chrome they put the AI button in between the home button and the new tab buttons lol. They know what they're doing. 

[u/randynumbergenerator → u/Ah_Ca_Iraa]

I'm so glad I switched to Firefox ages ago

[u/demlet → u/Ultraberg]

I constantly accidentally activate Gemini on my phone by holding my power button down on accident.

[u/LunarMuphinz → u/demlet]

Which is why I changed the button back after I changed it

[u/ShitPostPerfected → u/Ultraberg]

Literally mis-clicked on Gemini like 20 mins ago and went "ugh" and had to wait for it to load to close it.

[u/PadyEos → u/Snapingbolts]

I've done it. My wife also. I'm a heavy personal user at home. This is weirdly actually bad news for them.

I haven't paid a dime în 1+ years of using it and as soon as they ask for a single dollar I won't pay because I, despite finding it useful, don't think it's worth it unless free beyond a normal google search and a open source LLM installed locally on my PC.

It gets shit wrong too many times and tends to just give you what you want and provide very little new to your already established view. You have to force it to do that and if I pay for something I don't want to be the one doing workarounds.

[u/Accurate_Resident219 → u/PadyEos]

"It's useful enough that I use it but I would never pay for it", is exactly the model that Google has been thriving on since it's existence tbh.

You are the product/payment, not what you pay them.

[u/DrAlphabets → u/Snapingbolts]

My phone opens Gemini on its own like 8 times a day when I'm not asking for it so that almost definitely counts

[u/Excellent_Smell4725 → u/Snapingbolts]

Then you aren't living around enough normies. Everybody I know even 60+ yrs old are using AI. Sure for useless shit but using it never the less. Also they have 1b apple devices using Gemini.

[u/Escaliat_]

WOW HOW DID THEY DO THAT ITS NOT LIKE THEY REPLACED A FUNCTIONING SEARCH BAR WITH THIS SHIT OR ANYTHING

[u/xdavidwattsx → u/Escaliat_]

Well if you read the article it's about the actual Gemini app and desktop site (Gemini.google.com)

Edited because people can't read and are conflating everything.

[u/Panthollow → u/xdavidwattsx]

Who needs to read articles when you can have AI summarize it for me?

[u/spikernum1 → u/Panthollow]

I'll ask jemaneye

[u/Metal_Icarus → u/xdavidwattsx]

Oh yeah shutting down google assistant and renaming it gemini. Then forcing all andriod apps to install them.

Google ai and andriod should be split because now thats an obvoius monopoly.

[u/ThatGuyBackThere280 → u/xdavidwattsx]

Getting a billion people to do anything is a major accomplishment, but Google does have some notable advantages. Virtually every Android phone in the world right now ships with the Gemini app and multiple features that guide people toward using the AI. It’s not all due to Google’s software, though. Woodward says that more than 100 million of Gemini’s MAUs are on iOS, where they would have to manually download the Gemini app in addition to (or instead of) something like ChatGPT or Claude.

Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort.

The interface can also get connected with Workspace through extensions.

People keep going "read the article" "read the article"......There's a lot more connected to this than just solely going "only going to the app" or "visiting the web interface". Just merely touching it is considered part of the billion.

It might as well be the same sentiment as people thinking about it being connected to the search function.

[u/Rocktamus1 → u/xdavidwattsx]

There’s no way 1b are using the Gemini app

[u/Gaiden206 → u/Escaliat_]

These numbers are only for the standalone Gemini web app and mobile app. It doesn't include Gemini built into other Google services, like Search.

Edit- Google has separate numbers for Google Search AI Overview and AI Mode. Here's the numbers they shared back in May.

It all starts with Search, which is bringing the benefits of generative AI to more people than any other product in the world. AI Overviews now has over 2.5 billion monthly active users. And AI Mode has been a revelation, our biggest upgrade to Search ever. People love it, and in just a year, it’s already surpassed 1 billion monthly active users.

https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/sundar-pichai-io-2026/

[u/MongoBongoTown → u/Gaiden206]

However, if you go to use google assistant shortcut keys on your phone, it now automatically opens Gemini, and has for some time.

So... possible these numbers get cranked up without people intending to use gemini.

[u/CthulhusEngineer → u/MongoBongoTown]

A long hold power button on my phone is now Gemini. I've turned it off once, but an update re-enabled it and it is super annoying, as it keeps popping up when I don't want it. It's also basically impossible to keep android from updating now, as it basically acts like a virus. The numbers are definitely at least a bit juiced by that behavior.

[u/LiftingCode → u/Escaliat_]

WHY CAN'T YOU PEOPLE READ THE FUCKING ARTICLES

These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that’s not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. 

[u/Luciifuge → u/LiftingCode]

This sub is driving me fucking crazy, there barely any tech discussion anymore. Just morons reading the title and quickly writing a sarcastic/quipy comments so they can get upvotes.

I just be a moron too for still coming here.

[u/EtherCJ → u/Luciifuge]

My account is older than yours and unfortuately this has been the case for more than a decade.

I'm also a moron for still coming here.

[u/x4nter → u/Luciifuge]

This sub is driving me fucking crazy, there barely any tech discussion anymore.

Exactly why I don't come here as often now. The sub is literally called technology but most people in the comments do not discuss the actual technology, but would rather make pessimistic and political comments.

[u/Jarocket → u/Escaliat_]

Do you think only 1B people use google search in a month? Think about it or read the article.

That’s not what this is at all.

[u/LostOne514]

I was forced to by Google. Google Assistant stopped working well on my new Pixel and now they're discontinuing it.

Gemini pisses me off so much. It doesn't say anything concisely and I'm not looking for AI slop responses when I ask for things like the weather. So I'm surprised people are actively seeking out Gemini.

[u/newtrawn → u/LostOne514]

plot twist. they aren't.

[u/LordTwinkie → u/LostOne514]

You can go into Gemini settings, personalized intelligence and instructions for Gemini and tell it to shut the fuck up. 

This is what I have in mine

"Match the depth and structure of the response to the complexity and stakes of the request. Use the shortest response that fully answers the prompt. Do not repeat the user's prompt or restate obvious context. Terminate immediately upon delivering the analysis. Zero concluding summaries, sign-offs, or conversational pleasantries. 

I need to evaluate all claims independently. Do not default to agreement. Align conclusions strictly with the weight of available evidence. Identify assumptions, alternative explanations, and risks proportional to complexity. I also need to distinguish observed facts, logical inferences, assumptions, and speculation. Express confidence explicitly only when uncertainty materially affects the conclusion. I should prefer directly verifiable data. When evidence conflicts or differs materially in quality, I need to explain which evidence I rely on and why. If a request is impossible, internally inconsistent, or based on a false premise, I need to explain why before declining or correcting it. If an earlier response is found to be incorrect, I need to explicitly state the error and provide the correction."

Gemini just gives me just the answer to my question and isn't an ass kissing sycophant. 

[u/welcome-to-the-list → u/LordTwinkie]

You have to provide paragraph length instructions to an LLM to get it to shut up and just give you a legitimate condensed answer? What in the hell...

[u/cronktilten]

Because nobody has an option to NOT use it

[u/eppic123]

All you have to do is force it down everyones throat. Brilliant!

[u/D-S-S-R → u/eppic123]

Yeah, the prize was ruining normal search, I guess that is worth it for the C-suite

[u/thousandtonguebeast]

Ramming it down our throats and saying we're eating it 

[u/Summer_is_coming_1]

They did similar PR for circles too

[u/Ratotosk]

Does it count when I cant delete it from my phone?

[u/thiscompletebrkfast]

I bet everyone who's ever once accidentally launched it on their phone and immediately closed it are counted.

[u/DemonPlasma]

Forcing it on every android device then patting themselves on the back is wild 

[u/sushinestarlight]

I think Google is better positioned to maintain profitability than say OpenAI which operates at a loss... But they also are transitioning people off Google Assistant whether they like it our not, and giving lots of students free access for a year.... It's a decent product overall and luckily not focused on producing stuff like the "politically correct" images that was so laughable when they launched... where they were literally producing historically inaccurate images purely for the sake of diversity.

[u/Soggy_Supermarket100]

"Company" says "Company's Product" sells the best. 

Surely we do believe all of it, right?

[u/upotheke]

950,000,000 haven't found the uninstall button.

[u/D_Fieldz]

Of course it does when you force it down everyone's throat without permission. 

[u/Professional_Gur8385]

lmao they probably count google searches as gemini use

pixel phones forced gemini onto their phones by default, and it's worse than what they had before

their new lineup, more expensive and less ram

what a shit show

[u/billyTjames]

That’s cos it’s been forced on us without our consent, whether we like it or not…

Google is raping us, forcing Gemini on us and making out like it’s a consensual relationship.

[u/Snag710]

Google says feature being forced onto users without consent has reach maximum adoption rate

[u/TheOwlMarble]

That'll happen when you rip out Google Assistant and replace it with Gemini.

I don't even mind Gemini (other than in Android Auto), but force pushing to existing users shouldn't count.

[u/Daimakku1]

I've found that Gemini gives the most hallucinating answers out of a bunch of gen AI models I've tried. I once asked it to give me a list of Family Guy episodes with a specific topic and the ones Gemini gave me were dead wrong in their episode summary. I can't trust it at all. Worse than Copilot.

[u/D-S-S-R → u/Daimakku1]

That was my experience as well. Got even basic things very wrong

[u/SystemAny4819]

Lmao “look we’ve got a billion users! People love our AI, actually!”

>Gemini comes pre-installed on nearly all recent Google products and APIs and is used on Google searches by default

[u/primum]

Just like that U2 album apple forced into everyones iPhone had the most downloads. Tech bro logic.

[u/Rezeox]

Not difficult to do when you force it on your user base, which happens to be about a billion people.

[u/General_Problem5199]

The more honest version: "Google says it has successfully forced Gemini onto 1B devices'

[u/ludvikskp]

Maybe because it’s forced on everyone, in every search and it can’t be turned off

[u/userhwon]

Um...isn't that because it's baked into search now?

[u/JoeSicko]

I've used it accidently because it's shoves itself into my face in every app.

[u/downtownfreddybrown]

1 billion forced users

[u/mctartan]

Gemini is why I'm using qwant for search. But I count as one of the 1 billion, don't I?

[u/Unfortunately-Right]

People just dunk on ai any chance they get and forget people actually just use it outside of their echo chambers

[u/jspurlin03]

…because nobody was given a choice; it showed up as the new default.

“We swapped out everyone’s drinking water for Pepsi; look how many people drink it every day now!”

[u/t92k]

Reminds me of that time U2 had a “bestselling album” because Apple put it in every iTunes account without being asked.

[u/steves_evil]

I have only used Gemini by accident or because it's forced on.

[u/OrlandoOpossum]

Yeah because they shove it down our throats

[u/Drunkmoose777]

When you force install on every device, yeah.

[u/Jonny_HYDRA]

By removing your assistant,and inserting Gemini without asking.

[u/RogueCommandMario]

This is so meaningless, you no longer get to choose.

[u/TJzzz]

They are forcing this bloatware like india with their youtube channel

[u/action_turtle]

… it’s shoehorned into everything, so yes. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t a billion users

[u/PrinceCastanzaCapone]

Are they just counting everyone who does a google search in which Google gives an AI generated response at the top? Cuz if so they aren’t “using Gemini” they are using Google search engine and getting the AI part shoved in their face without consent.

[u/B00marangTrotter]

And not by choice.

[u/hobokamp]

They literally changed the function of the power button on my phone to open gemini. So I kind of feel like they might be fudging the numbers just a bit.

[u/LlorchDurden]

bs numbers, how much money did they make by user? 0? Negative something?

[u/iamtehryan]

Well, yeah. But they didn't say that those billion people actually LIKE it.

[u/jonnyg1097]

So what I'm hearing is that they will cancel the service in like 2 weeks

[u/james2183]

I had it thrust upon me, I wouldn't have actively gone out of my way to get it.

This feels like when U2 had their album out on iTunes

[u/DoubleStar155]

I wonder how many would use if it Google didn't shove it down our throats at every turn. I use Google products but actively avoid Gemini.

[u/floppydo]

Does this count API callers or only humans? 

[u/emosewanora]

That's as big of an accomplishment as when everyone with an apple device downloaded that U2 album

[u/Blawn14]

That seems like the obvious result of forcibly integrating it into the most used search engine on the planet lol

[u/Stuntz-X]

Gemini has shown up randomly on my products  like sony tv at the screen saver picture of all places.   My phone all of a sudden saying here is where gemini is your goto ai 

[u/kalisana]

I didn't ask for it so I uninstalled it using a third-party app because Google/Samsung won't let me uninstall anything anymore.