Who Will Win The Generative Ai Race?

In today's fiercely competitive tech landscape, generative AI stands out as a top priority for industry leaders. Tech giants are constantly innovating in this domain to push the boundaries of possibilities.
Google's official introduction of Gemini marks a significant milestone in this arena, which replaces its previous chatbot, Bard.

However, Gemini is more than just a rebranding effort, Gemini represents a significant advancement in Google's AI technology. 

With Gemini, Google has unified all of its artificial intelligence models under one unified name, aimed at delivering seamless data integration, data analysis and information compilation across all platforms of Google such as Google Docs, Bard, Gmail and more. 

Chirag Dekate, a Gartner vice president analyst, noted that Gemini stands out as the sole native multimodal generative AI model in existence. 

The launch of Gemini comes amid OpenAI’s ChatGPT has already rolled out a paid subscription-based model- GPT-4. This is also seen as a competition move to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot. However, Unlike GPT-4, which drives ChatGPT Plus and focuses primarily on text generation, Gemini adopts a multimodal approach. This allows Gemini to process and generate outputs encompassing text, code, audio, images, and even videos.

This versatility empowers Gemini to tackle a wider range of tasks, from comprehending complex queries in Google Search to facilitating creative tasks on YouTube.

Gemini, which was first rolled out in December last year, has three models:

• Nano: Optimized for mobile devices, currently integrated into the Pixel 8 Pro, handling tasks requiring on-device efficiency.
• Pro: Already powering Bard, offering robust capabilities for tasks encountered in daily interactions.
• Ultra: Designed for tackling highly complex problems with plans to integrate bard after extensive testing.
• Gemini advanced: The subscription-based model of Gemini, soon to be rolled out for Docs, Gmail and more.

Gemini Advanced:

Gemini Advanced is the subscription-based model priced at $19.99 per month in the US. This subscription includes access to the Ultra 1.0 AI model along with two terabytes of cloud storage. Subscribers will also benefit from integration with Gmail and Google's productivity suite (to be incorporated soon), forming the Google One AI Premium plan. 

Jack Krawczyk, the Product Lead at Google, justified the pricing of the Gemini as ‘fair value’, which offers more than just accessing a language model (hinting towards ChatGPT-4). Apart from offering text, video, audio and code support like its competitors, Gemini Advanced aims to align with users' workflow by providing cloud storage, Gmail and doc integration, and more under one parent AI technology.

The move signifies Google's response to the evolving landscape of AI subscriptions, competing with Microsoft and OpenAI. Both Google and Microsoft's subscriptions are priced at $20 a month in the United States. 

Through Gemini Advanced, Google aims to leverage and target its extensive user base desiring the most capable generative AI technology, capable of creating content on demand and handling queries without obvious online answers. It aims to reach billions of users globally, starting with a rollout in English across 150 countries, with additional language support in Japanese and Korean planned. 

Not only this, the users can also access Gemini as their default digital assistant on Android devices through an app, the power button, or the standard voice commands like "Hey Google" or “OK Google”. Gemini Advanced is now available with a two-month subscription trial offered to users at no cost. 

Gemini will Change the Way we Interact with AI:

In 2023, following the release of ChatGPT, there was a notable increase in interest and understanding of generative AI and chatbots across various sectors and among consumers. This resulted in a surge in investments aimed at integrating genAI into different systems, both at the backend and frontend. For instance, retail companies are exploring the use of multimodal genAI engines to enhance customer service interactions. These engines can analyse diverse data inputs such as customer inquiries and product images to provide more personalized recommendations and assistance, which are far outside the reach of traditional large language models (LLMs).

Google envisions Gemini as the main hub for user interaction with Google's AI capabilities. While the voice assistant remains, Gemini will handle tasks like planning and creative expression in this domain. Google also assures users of its commitment to responsible AI development. Under Gemini, users can expect a multifaceted AI experience rooted in Google's core principles of accessibility, empowerment and also incorporating ethical AI applications.

Conclusion:

As Chirag Dekate, a vice president analyst at Gartner stated, Google is no longer playing the catch-up game, Google’s Gemini is now the game. With integrating Gemini across all of its platforms to form a unified and simplified experience for its users, Google has revolutionized generative AI ecosystem. It is no longer just about generating texts, videos, and codes; multimodality is now the present and future, thanks to Gemini.