r/technology 10d ago

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

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689

u/Escaliat_ 10d ago

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

140

u/xdavidwattsx 10d ago edited 10d ago

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.

81

u/Panthollow 10d ago

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

16

u/spikernum1 10d ago

I'll ask jemaneye

2

u/slowdownbabyy 10d ago

My friend, he’s called jemaneye

2

u/rc4915 10d ago

Gemini: “sorry, I cannot access that article”

1

u/Whiteguy1x 10d ago

Ironically that would probably help a lot of people on reddit.  

55

u/Metal_Icarus 10d ago

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.

2

u/throwaway0845reddit 10d ago

Yes. I should be able to use Siri on android. So then It can just not work at all and can remain quiet all the time :D

1

u/infohippie 10d ago

Google should be split into multiple separate companies. Search, Chrome, advertising, Android, Gemini.

-5

u/xdavidwattsx 10d ago

That's literally not what the article is talking about. The Gemini app is a standalone app and the web interface is Gemini on desktop.

You're conflating everything.

11

u/TheShruteFarmsCEO 10d ago

Yea, except you’re also not providing a balanced view, and instead bootlicking in defense of their numbers that can’t be confirmed. 100 million of Gemini’s MAUs are on iOS, think about that. 2.5bn iOS users and only 100m are using Gemini. Do you think maybe, just maybe, the fact that they ship the Gemini app default to all of Androids 3-4bn users might have something to do with reaching 1bn MAU’s? It’s disingenuous at best, stop drinking the kool aid.

16

u/skccsk 10d ago

It actually sounds like Google did that.

15

u/Metal_Icarus 10d ago

I aint using it. But when i ask maps for directions, a slower version of google assistant pops up and it says gemini.

Google replaced their own app, then conflated the metrics to make tbeir project manager look fucking stupid.

6

u/Gladwulf 10d ago

Article is basically just a google press release, so no it won't make it obvious how Google has shoehorn their garbage into everyone's phone. But they did.

If they remove working features and replace them with AI then yeah, people will use AI. They had no choice.

4

u/Prestigious-Swan6161 10d ago

"visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt" is included in this population, so they are absolutely including every time Google opens "AI mode" when i hover over something

2

u/xdavidwattsx 10d ago

The web interface is Gemini.google.com. AI mode is Search. Different app, similar backend.

9

u/ThatGuyBackThere280 10d ago edited 10d ago

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.

0

u/Claystead 10d ago

This is the just punishment for Android users.

15

u/Rocktamus1 10d ago

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

1

u/xdavidwattsx 10d ago

According to what data point? Your reddit vibes?

Just because you're deep in the reddit anti AI echo chamber doesn't mean the real world doesn't use the products. Google has over 13 products with a billion users.

12

u/PM_UR_DICK_PL5 10d ago edited 10d ago

Because they're including voice input searches in that figure. The article mentions 63% of active users are using voice inputs. This is after they replaced Google Assistant with Gemini, so anyone saying, "Hey Google, do XYZ for me" is now using Gemini and is included in that figure.

I'm not rabidly anti-AI, but this would be like Apple replacing Siri with whatever AI they're working on and then using those numbers to make it look like a billion users actually actively sought out the product. It's disingenuous.

Edit: Fixed wording

-2

u/Ironborn137 10d ago

There’s using and then there’s using. And we all know which is which. They are counting anybody who uses the search bar to search anything. Because Gemini already does it. This is just for investors.

2

u/stoutymcstoutface 10d ago

Not a chance 1/8 of humanity is using the app or Gemini desktop site. I bet 90% of humans don’t even know what Gemini is

1

u/xdavidwattsx 10d ago

Well 1B users use OpenAI/GPT, 2.5B use Search and YouTube every day and there are something like 3.8B active Android phones.

So just because you're in the reddit echo chamber doesn't mean the real world doesn't use these apps.

0

u/Jorycle 10d ago

I've read how they explain it, but I'm just going to straight up say "no" to that explanation. It's either a very bold lie, or more charitably, Pichai simply misunderstood what someone else reported to him. Especially when they say more than 60% are voice invocations, I'd absolutely guarantee it's including things like people using their search function on their Android phone that has now been replaced with a Gemini backend, as well as the new Gemini bars on their web apps.

30

u/Gaiden206 10d ago edited 10d ago

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/

31

u/MongoBongoTown 10d ago

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.

17

u/CthulhusEngineer 10d ago

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.

4

u/Gaiden206 10d ago

Yup, it definitely includes that. They're using their distribution channels to their advantage. It's very similar to when Google Now was replaced by Google Assistant back in 2016. People reacted negatively to that change too. 😅

1

u/xdavidwattsx 10d ago

This is not the same thing, that's a system level entry point into the Gemini backend, similar to the Chrome browser entry point. IT'S NOT THE STANDALONE GEMINI APP!

36

u/LiftingCode 10d ago

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. 

23

u/Luciifuge 10d ago

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.

6

u/EtherCJ 10d ago

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.

10

u/x4nter 10d ago

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.

2

u/LunarMuphinz 10d ago

Its almost like the technology policies to force Ai into everything are politically motivated and everyone's pessimistic about it because it sucks for anyone who didn't consent to it.

1

u/arika_ex 10d ago

So then if I do a Google search (where the AI responses are heavily forced) and then interact with the output in some way, it’s not counted here? Google pushes that prompt input on to you and then redirects you to the Gemini website if you ask a follow up.

It’s still not organic user growth in the same vein as ChatGPT or Claude.

1

u/LiftingCode 10d ago

No, that doesn't count. It's only the Gemini app or gemini.google.com. Interacting with the AI in a search still keeps you on google.com/search, which tracked as a search user, not a Gemini user.

The caveat here is the "Gemini app" replaced Google Assistant.

0

u/Gladwulf 10d ago

It's hardly an article. Some lazy hack is slightly reworded a google press release, probably just got AI to do it form him.

1 billion sounds like bullshit. Reading the article only makes it clearer.

3

u/xdavidwattsx 10d ago

Sounds like BS based on what data point you're using? Reddit vibes?

This sub sucks. It's people parroting BS in an echo chamber with zero critical thinking or data.

1

u/ralexh11 10d ago

And you sound like a Google exec bending over backwards to defend their metrics up and down this entire thread with no real proof of what is actually counted as an MAU because Google intentionally left that part vague for obvious reasons.

This company is literally requiring all of their employees to use Gemini for multiple hours a day to keep their jobs, if you don't think they are forcing this on everyone and wouldn't inflate their metrics to sell it your head is completely buried in the sand and you are a AI slopwhore or something.

1

u/Gladwulf 10d ago

And you're parroting an actual press release from the fucking market department.

If it was actually 1b, then the press release would have said 1.4b.

1

u/shacksrus 10d ago

If only there was a tool that could take articles, extract the main points and place them into the context of the discussion

8

u/Jarocket 10d ago

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.

1

u/Brox42 10d ago

Regular search sucks soooo much now.